8 months at sea and one port call. Absolute fucking nightmare. It’s basically like solitary confinement at that point. You get locked into a routine that eats your soul. Everything turns to ash, and then it gets ground down finer and finer until its all that you have. It starts to choke the life out of you, but you still want it because its all thats left of you.
How surprising that everyone quoted in that story was an officer, all people who had free time to hang out with support dogs, have cookies, get neat patches made. Not one enlisted voice in the whole article. A ship of 5000 people, with a compliment of a dozen of smaller ships, and they found 3 officers to talk to, people with their own rooms, catered mess with plates and no lines, phones that call out to land, largely unhobbled internet. I wonder why they had nothing negative to say at all.
Im glad these comfortable men have such concern for their “sailors.” Sending out instagram pics and attaboys to the public but for some reason not one reporter welcomed to talk to the enlisted sailors, report on what they are experiencing. The ash.
Heartwarming.
Fellow noncom here. Hug mate. Big fucking hug. I know EXACTLY what you’re saying here.
Solitary confinement on a carrier? Lmao I mean it’s not great but 5k people is bigger than many towns. We’re not talking submarine service here. Officer life has it’s perks but you’re also stuck playing politics in a rigged game with a hard time limit to either make a career or gtfo and try the civilian rat race. I’ve met some good ones and some absolute human shit stains, but they were mostly people. Not the ROTC kids tho. Those are worth less than nothing. Sharks have more empathy.
You didn’t live the life.
Imagine thinking enlisted didn’t have their own politics to deal with, their own rigged games to suffer, but without any of the “has its perks” of being an officer. Having to also decide about making a career out of it or gtfo to try the civilian rat race.
But no, since you didnt live it, you cant understand that they went through all the same terrible shit you did, but much, much worse.
You had perks, ways to get away from those 5000 people, to connect with those you care about. Small human dignity’s like private space, a call home, a round plate to eat off.
They had shit all. All the pressures you felt but more, with none of the kindness that came with it. They had to pull back into their own minds for that. Thats the solitary. If you leave it, it crushes you, because you have no “has its perks” to relieve the anxiety, the pain and the fear of it. You just grit and bear it until you dont grit anymore.
That’s when the ash starts.
Buddy I never enlisted lmao I’m a civilian welder who has worked with CG/Navy/Army/Air Force on occasion. I even worked directly under homeland security for a while. I’ve seen everything you’re talking about laterally, without any bias from any command or politics threatening my career. I’ve welded in fireman bunks as well as officer cabins. I know what I’m about with US ships.
Living on the boats for extended times is a pain, but it’s pain for everyone. Yeah an officer gets a cabin and better mess, but a fireman knows all the best corners to disappear in and won’t have 8 pissed off jackasses looking for them if they fuck off for a 15 minute quickie or whatever. The only really carefree son of a bitch I’ve seen on a boat is the captain, and that’s because the boat is the only place they can’t get their ass chewed off for whatever flavor of shit their command is spewing that day. Generally.
Okay, then you know even less about it than I thought.
The above is entirely about life aboard a ship underway for 8 months while at war.
I appreciate the welding mate, but you dont have any view about this experience because you never saw it.
I guess all journalism is bunk then. Lmao all I’ve done is speak with the people from the bottom all the way up to the top. Definitely can’t form an opinion after working along side these people for years, seeing how they change before and after deployments, and hearing their stories. My b
So youre a journalist welder? Aware of the deep ins and outs of navy culture from exhaustive interviews? Id probably like your article more than the posted one. I still don’t think you really understand what I’m describing.
A ship in drydock is no ship at all. The sailors on it are not at all the same as when they are underway. It’s an utterly different animal. Even a Before/After isn’t it, because it doesnt contain the During.
A docked ship is just a job. A ship at sea is a crucible.
5k people is a bigger population than many towns yes, but crammed into a 250x250x1100 foot box in the biggest case (Ford class)
