Nuclear Navy Milestone (And A Rant)

Interesting milestone reached: the New York prototype site is honoring their 50,000th graduate; ADM Donald attended the graduation ceremony for 246 graduates. The Kesselring site claims that they have trained over half of all Navy nukes.

[Off-topic rant: What are the odds that the 50,000th graduate just *happens* to be a woman? If it just turned out that way, fine, but if they just chose one of the 246 graduates to be the ceremonial 50,000th graduate and were directed to chose a woman, or if they arranged the qual board schedule such that a woman would be the "correct" graduate, that's bullshit. There are plenty of guy Sailors who I'm sure have parents who would like to see them featured in a news video, too. And why does it seem that about 30% of the various Fleet Sailor of the Year selectees are women when females are only about 16% of the Navy overall? And why does the SecNav feel the need to pull non-qualified women off their boats for a White House Memorial Day photo op with the President and First Lady and fly them in from Kings Bay and Bangor when there were plenty of qualified Submariners just a few miles away in Norfolk who probably would have loved to see the White House? How much money did that publicity stunt cost? And did any boats have to do a PERSTRANS to get their female Sailors off the boat? How does missing at-sea (or even in-port) time help them complete their Submarine Qual Card? Is there a new "Visit the White House and meet the President" required signature they've added since I got out? /rant]

What are your favorite prototype stories? I always enjoyed the "Midnight EOOWs" in the Idaho bunkrooms -- the guys who screamed out orders in their sleep when at the height of preparations for their Final Evaluated Watch. I also remember the nosebleed I got riding home on the bus one night that, exacerbated by the elevation and lack of humidity during the Idaho winters, absolutely refused to stop until my old t-shirt in my bag was sopping wet with blood and I worried I was going to bleed out there on the bus, miles from civilization. Also, meeting my wife, who was going to school at Idaho State and met the only Sailors in our class who were smart enough to live in Pocatello (fewer Sailors and more college students) instead of Idaho Falls (many Sailors and no college students).