buckaroo
Here kitty, kitty, kitty
I just finished watching the PBS series "Carrier" about a six month deployment of the USS Nimitz in the year 2005 to the Persian Gulf. I watched it online at Netflix and really enjoyed the series. It's a ten parter so it's quite long, but each episode had it's own subject so it didn't matter if you missed one.
The series was unique in that it wasn't narated, but let the crew do all the talking both while being interviewed and at work. About 18 or so various people were mostly followed from when they departed until they came home. The show covered everyone from a young female recruit who wanted to be a chef and worked in the galley, to a 21 year old single father to be who worked in ordanance on the flight deck, so thirtysome year old "shooter" who gave the go ahead for the jets to launch, all the way up to the commander of the fleet, a Rear Admiral. There was plenty of emotion all through the series with what happened when they came home the most emotional. Oh and what an experience to watch those jet jockeys try to land their jets on that ship at night when the seas are rough. It isn't easy, even for the most experienced and not many make it on their first try, or even the second. My hats off to those pilots, they are good!
Of course the majority of the deployment was traveling to and from the gulf, so they really were only "in theater" for a couple of months, but the jobs still had to be done each and every day. Many of the sailors had very mixed feelings about what they were doing and at the end, many were ready to get out, but there were also many who re-enlisted. I think that if they had actually been on combat most of the time, many would have felt different, but when they are doing such mundane jobs in which they don't feel threatened in any way, many just don't see the reason.
Having served four years in the Air Force, I knew of the political side of the service, but this gave me a great look at what those sailors had to go through on a long deployment at sea. I'm glad that I didn't join the Navy, though I have high esteem for anyone who did.
The series was unique in that it wasn't narated, but let the crew do all the talking both while being interviewed and at work. About 18 or so various people were mostly followed from when they departed until they came home. The show covered everyone from a young female recruit who wanted to be a chef and worked in the galley, to a 21 year old single father to be who worked in ordanance on the flight deck, so thirtysome year old "shooter" who gave the go ahead for the jets to launch, all the way up to the commander of the fleet, a Rear Admiral. There was plenty of emotion all through the series with what happened when they came home the most emotional. Oh and what an experience to watch those jet jockeys try to land their jets on that ship at night when the seas are rough. It isn't easy, even for the most experienced and not many make it on their first try, or even the second. My hats off to those pilots, they are good!
Of course the majority of the deployment was traveling to and from the gulf, so they really were only "in theater" for a couple of months, but the jobs still had to be done each and every day. Many of the sailors had very mixed feelings about what they were doing and at the end, many were ready to get out, but there were also many who re-enlisted. I think that if they had actually been on combat most of the time, many would have felt different, but when they are doing such mundane jobs in which they don't feel threatened in any way, many just don't see the reason.
Having served four years in the Air Force, I knew of the political side of the service, but this gave me a great look at what those sailors had to go through on a long deployment at sea. I'm glad that I didn't join the Navy, though I have high esteem for anyone who did.
