Found out how many boilermaker apprentices quit in their first year

I was looking through some union stats from the BAC last night. Something like 40% of new guys wash out before hitting 12 months. That hit me harder than I expected. Half that number just can't handle the travel or the hours. The other half get spooked by the heat and heights on their first few jobs. My first outage in Baton Rouge almost broke me too. How many of you nearly walked away that first year?

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richardh444mo ago

Respectfully disagree. That 40% washout rate keeps the guys who really want it.

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victor_davis174mo ago

People miss that the 40% washout isn't just about physical fitness, it's about mental discipline under real pressure. The guys who drop usually get weeded out by sleep deprivation and teamwork failures, not just the physical stuff. If you can't keep your head straight when you haven't slept in 48 hours and your buddy is screaming in your face, you don't belong in an AOR. That's a different kind of gatekeeping that you can't fake your way through. It ends up saving lives in the long run.

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