Carrier (PBS) Episodes 3 & 4

Huh? Was Mel Gibson still drunk when he produced this? I have to say that I am disappointed that the view of true life on a carrier is being presented by the most junior and juvenile members of the crew. To me, it would be no different than doing a story on the school system in our town and only interviewing the 1st and 2nd graders for their opinion on the entire system. The show would have you believe that Mast happens every day and that gangs of pre-20 somethings run the ship.

It was also a bit hilarious when the guy alluded to that he had not only the one locker that was assigned to him….but (shhhhh) …get this…another one as well. Hey shipmate (I will touch on this term later)…that ain’t nuthin’ new. You think you thought of that? HA hahahahaha!  C’mon…Carrier…show me something I don’t know. A sailor’s initiative has no bounds, we have been figuring out ways to make our life easier since the first ship set sail. I remember on one particular deployment, we figured out a way to battle the night shift hunger when we discovered that the galley personnel secured a food storage space witha chain around the ladder above it (ladder = stairs). All we had to do was remove the two pins at the bottom of the ladder and the chain would slide right off. We then helped ourselves to ample quantities of bread, cans of ham and blocks of cheese each night for almost the entire cruise. I think they discovered the loss but didn’t know how it was being taken…so they just moved our savory snacks elsewhere. 

The feeling that I am left with at the end of the first four episodes is the overwhelming relief that I was off the ships andout of the Navy before I had to serve on a “love boat”. I can only imagine the kind of supervisory nightmare of not only having immature men in your charge but immature women as well. I am trying not to sound sexist here but I don’t think that there is room on a combat ship for them…period. It’s not that I don’t think that they can do the job…it most respects they can…but a ship’s ability to meet the mission goals is directly linked to the crew’s high level of good order and discipline. ”Carrier” does a good job of showing the small percentage of the dirtbags that plague each service and I think did the Navy a disservice by highlighting the ‘racist’ (alcoholic) and showing his subsequent ‘booting’ from the ship and the service. It happens though…back in the ‘old’ days…a good sailor had a least one NJPin his record…but all of that changed in the early 90’s when any mark in your record was a death sentence to your career. I think it shows some a sign of character..the ability to overcome obstacles and rise above adversity. I have been there and I have done that. Trust me.

I was an Ordie. I was a hellraiser and a hard worker. I loved working on the flight deck and I hated working on the flight deck. I love the A-6E Intruder and I hated the A-6E Intruder. Love and Hate. It is just part of the DNA of the Red Shirt. If You Ain’t Ordnance You Ain’t S&&#  IYAOYAS. You loved being an AO and you hated being an AO. Yin and Yang….BOHICA and DILIGAF. Everyone’s job on a carrier is important. But to the Ordie…ours is just the only one that counts.  If it wasn’t for the BB Stackers…the carriers would be just another cruiseship and the squadrons just another scheduled airline. Through our efforts, we allow the pilots to execute the operations of making things that were once there go away. Peace through superior firepower.

It was a bit disheartening to see the deck of the Nimitz populated with so many F-18’s (FAGS)…I can’t believe the Tomcat and Intruder are no longer going to sea. I think that is so symbolic of the state of the nation in a sense…they removed the symbols of power andreplaced it with what is basically a Toyota Prius. There is nothing like being on the deck being showered by the jet wash of a Tomcat in tension on CAT 1…wow. Or at night when they open the turkey-feathers and the burners light up like roman candles…now THAT is POWER baby. I am sure that none of the non-rates featured on ‘Carrier’ have experienced any of that. Fortunately, they still have the opportunity to have their fillings rattled out by an EA-6B. That is the only plane on the flight deck that can make you lose all of your bodily functions if you are unfortunately trapped by CAT 1 during a launch. There isn’t anything like it in the world that equals that sensation.

And then there were the propjobs…they showed a few flight decks scenes in between the highlights of the “airman” love triangles andthe stupidity of the racist guy. The E-2C’s were my own personal nightmare, especially at night. With the noise of the flight deck coming at you from so many different directions, it is almost impossible to tell which direction an E-2C or any other bird is approaching you. Because of this, our rule was to consider every bird as being turned up and to treat every intake and exhaust as having the ability to suck you up and spit you out. As they pointed out in the first episode, the arresting wire is a potentially quick ticket to the morgue…but there are so many other dangers that exist on the flight deck. Keeping your head on a swivel is paramount in keeping all of your body parts connected…an even greater safety element on the flight deck is the fact that everyone looks out for the other guy. There have been many times when I have felt a hand on my shoulder keeping me from walking into something potentially ‘harmful’. I remember one time there were a bunch of us between the Six Pack and the Corral…a Tomcat was moving toward the shuttle on CAT 1…the ship’s bow rose out of the water due to the sea state and the pilot needed to boost the power in order to keep moving forward. When he did this, he opened up the turkey-feathers and people were literally sent flying. I was standing in the Corral at the nose of one of our birds and I saw everyone get picked up andsent hurtling down toward the area in front of the island. Not so much with their bodies in the air but mostly being pushed along with their feet barely touching the ground…no way to stop. I saw this one Yellow Shirt on his way to being slammed into a huffer parked just past where I was standing. On his way by I caught him in a bear hug andwas able to twirl him around andsteer him clear of his imminent collision with El Huffer. You have to understand…there ain’t no love lost between Yellow Shirts and Red Shirts. But in this instance, all of that was set aside and it was just one shipmate helping out another in the time of need. Weeks after that I would pass him in the hallway and he would reach out to shake my hand in a gesture of gratitude.

Speaking of the word: “SHIPMATE”…it is never said from one sailor to another in a friendly manner. Any sailor below the rank of Chief considers this word to be the same as someone calling our momma fat and saying that her job is to suck farts out of used car seats. It is the single most abrasive term in the the Naval Lexicon. There ain’t no dirtier word spoken on the ship than being called …”shipmate”. It was usually followed by a one-way counselling session, a dressing down or an impromptu “training” session from the Chief or Gunner. There was one person in my career that used this word as skillfully as any surgeon and that was AOCS Bourne. He could hit you with a ‘Shipmate’ that instantly caused paralysis and partial blindness. Judging by the conduct on the Carrier series, I am not sure of the leadership abilities of the Chiefs, Mustangs and Warrants onboard the Nimitz. It appears to be that they could use a dose of Senior Chief Bourne to keep everyone on the straight and narrow. Back in my day (am I old enough to say that?) there were no wrath greater than the power of the Master Chief. I wonder if that is still true today? Or have they been morphed into the PC, touchy-feely, good feeling type leadership that permeates our culture today? Everyone gets a trophy and you get an award just for trying…

I have to say that after last nights episodes, I turned to my wife and warned her to not buy this series for me. It doesn’t appear to have any resemblance to my 10 years in the Navy and my 7 years at sea. I like to call my tenure in the Navy,  the B.C. years….(Before Clinton) although he was my CINC from 1992-1995. My EAOS came and I was gone as soon as I could…July 28th, 1995. The service was already feeling liberalized and was no place for a knuckledragging, crow-tacking, pink-belly giving, red shirted old school Ordie.

I think if the any of the guys that I used to work for and with could be transported through time and cast as crewmembers on the “Carrier” show…they would be sent home on the H53 along with guy being kicked out on an OTH discharge. I am not sure if the kids on the Nimitz could handle “shipmates” like that. I giggle when I think about it…if any of my old Navy buddies read this…you KNOW what I am talking about.

Attack Squadron 85 (Black Falcons)
Last Deployment before Decommission 1994
Indian Ocean

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~ by Running Rooster on April 29, 2008.