About twenty years ago I had a boss that was a submariner, one of the guys that operated the reactor (I think they call themselves "nukes"?). He was quite odd but wickedly smart and it always seemed like he could engineer his way out of any situation, which I greatly admired. But yes, this guy was very down to earth, some odd combination of prepper and nature-loving hippie. Great guy to work for, I knew he always had my back.

A few years ago I worked with another reactor operator and saw some similar personality traits. Exceedingly calm, independent and quirky with an engineering/problem solving-oriented mind.

I've always been fascinated by submarines and knowing both of those people only deepened the fascination.