Carrier.

Before I went Aviation I was on the WAGO 295 Evergreen. A converted Buoy Tender/ Ocean going Scientific research vessel. We did International Ice Patrols in the Atlantic. The North Atlantic. That is rockin' and rollin'.

will

At least you got to hit the ice up north for four months. Did an AWS we called "Nome Then Home". Got out of dry dock at Todd (the Polar Seas real home port), fueled up at the NavSta Bremerton pier. Headed north got as far as Nome. Then the packing around the rudder shaft let go and let the sea in. Ran pumps to keep the flooding down (handling goes wonky with that much extra weight in the stern) and limped back to dry dock at Todd. Transiting back we lost 2Alpha main diesel engine and ships service gen 3. Went into dry dock had the steering shaft packing rebuilt, 2Alpha rebuilt, and ships service 3 overhauled. Refueled and headed back out. Made it up to around Barrow before we devoloped a sea water leak into out diesel fuel system. The ship has the capability to flood the fuel tanks in emergency. Those valves failed and we contaminated 300,000 gallons of diesel. Back to Todd. Got her repaired and we headed south to Antarctica for Deep Freeze. Along the way we had a fire in diesel 2, lost the rectifiers which left us dead in the water for 12 hours off New Zealand. Then in McMurdo Sound a sewage overboard pipe failed and the motor room flooded. We also took some nasty blue ice to #2 screw which cracked the cover and we leaked 1,500 gallons of hydraulic oil into McMurdo sound. Finally we burned up #1 gas turbine engine. Eventually with the help of the Star we got the channel groomed and limped back to the dry dock at Todd. Along the way the air conditioning conked out transiting the equator and the steam plant went down for a week so we couldn't run the evaps to make fresh water. Being in the engineering division of the Polar Sea was a very busy job. We had hundreds of "minor" system failures on that tub.

I always liked the Avdet. Flight ops were fun because it got the deckies moving. That and it was fun to watch the choppers circling around for landing. Takes a fair amount of skill to land on that flight deck. It was also neat to see the mechanics working on the birds. Trying to beat the rescue swimmer in a push up contest was a constant source of amusement.

Ah, memories.

I was on the Polar Star. Four months in the Artic. Yes, I was an airdale but the crew was tight and treated us like we treated them, equals. The food was pretty darn good. The ports? Non exsistant, unless you count ice liberty with a Canadian Ice breaker above Dead Horse Alaska.  Yes the ship was old, but well maintained by the crew with obvious pride. I also did a few Fisheries patrols on 378's. You think a Polar Class can roll, try a 378 in the Bearing Sea with the wind at 75-85 knots and 40 footers breaking on the flight deck. No, it wasn't fun but they never promised me fun, just three hots and a cot. A prison? More like home when you are coming in iced up and barely able to clear the nets. 

W                                                                                  

I was on the USCGC Polar Sea (WAGB11). That's a real tub, I'm sure the AGB stands for Arctic Garbage Barge. Also called her the Polar Roller, and a few more colorful nicknames. Just a rotted out piece of junk through and through. Designed back in the 70's to be an icebreaker. Spend a few months breaking ice and everything rattles loose and shakes itself apart. She had a tendency to burst sewage overboard pipes and flood the motor room. Or diesel 2 would catch fre. Cover plates for the screws (propellors) tended to crack causing us to leak hydraulic fluid into the ocean. They were CPP. Handled heavy seas like a football in a swimming pool thanks to her icebreaking hull design. 15 foot swells would make her heave over 40 degrees. Lots of power, no speed. Everything was set up for torque, we went everywhere at 12 flippin knots. Since she was the worst duty in the Coast Guard for a FS (cook) to have we got served by the reject cooks that couldn't hack it at any other command. Mealtime was a culinary adventure. We used to live on Ramen Noodles we'd cook ourselves.

On this delightful bucket of rust I reported aboard as a Fireman. Which intitially wasn't bad duty. Until we got underway. I found out that when the boat is in drydock and shut off things don't break. Out at sea it's a constant battle of leaks, breakdowns, and band aiding the thing back together to limp her along. It was such a relief to do a month of messcooking to not have to deal with the constant headaches of keeping the engineering plant going. I had thought of striking Boatswains Mate in the deck department, but I wound up striking Electricians Mate instead. That was brutal, Polar Seas primary propulsion was diesel electric, and it had way more parts than necessary. Lot's of sleepless nights. It seems that we would lose a shaft at around 0230, go figure. Made it all the way to EM2 before I got out.

Being underway on the Polar Sea was like prison. Bad food, small places, non-stop labor, constant peril for your life because the darn thing kept breaking at the most inopportune time (a gale is a bad time to lose 2 shafts), couldn't leave, one cruise we had no port calls because we kept leaking hydraulic fluid. 6 months at sea, no port calls. Unless you call fueling at Mc Murdo station a port call. It was horrible.

Arctic Garbage Barge is right.

Then I got my ticket as a ships engineer and went to work for Carnival. Taxiing drunks around on the Spirit. She wasn't such a bad boat. Surprisingly weatherly, had her up around Alaska a few times and she handled those turbuent waters well. Not as clean in the engine room as the accomodations decks would have you believe. Overall not a bad experience, mainly hung out in the ECC. Most of the engineering plant can be operated remotely. Everything worked, things got fixed.

Sailed for a bunch of different commands under MSC. That was a real mixed bag. The skipper could be suffering from delusipns of grandeur (it's 1943 and I'm on the bridge of the greatest battleship ever!) or be a burned out wasted hulk of a man. I don't think MSC was all that picky about who crewed and commanded their ships. Warm body and a pulse were the primary requirements. The ships were generally in good order and the berthing was decent. The food was better than what I was eating on Spirit most of the time. We went some wacked out places though. I'm northern European, I don't handle that 120 degree Persian Gulf get the Navy ship it's toilet paper mission too well. That was brutally hot. I think they gave us whacked out Port Calls to cut downon MSC sailors catching a commercial flight home. I had quarterdeck watch in Bahrain. No pistol, no rifle, no stick, nothing. I figured if some bad guys wanted to board the ship and take it over I'd just jump over the other side and start swimming. Screw it.

Sometimes the drills got a little ridiculous. We were 500 miles south of Hawaii and the XO pitches Oscar overboard at 0100 for a man overboard drill. He lets the Polar Sea steam on til 0200 til he sounds the drill. Great, Oscar is somewhere behind us (Oscar is a mannequin in a Mustang suit), it's dark, and we're all very tired. Launched both helos and started the search pattern. Unfortunately Oscar was unconscious and unable to signal us with his strobe. We searched and seached and finally found him at 1700. We spent 15 hours with helicopters in the air searching for a mannequin. Millions of tax payer dollars at work. At least we were ready to do a SAR mission. With a Polar Class Icebreaker. Right...

I broke it down like this once. 96% of the time underway is spent being numb, bored, or miserable, 1% is spent in sheer mortal terror because the engine room caught fire again or something flooded or whatever, 1% of the time you feel like going onto the bridge and captains cabin with an axe, and 2% of the time you have an incredible high from something you've seen or done. My theory is that those of us that like the sea are addicted to the 2% high.

Mostly though, being underway is a miserable existence a lot like being in prison. It's like one of those semi-cushy federal prisons. But a prison none the less.

Is this the one where the Nimitz cruised to the Persian Gulf and back?  I too wished they had shown some of the engineering crew.  At the time, my son was thinking about joining the Navy and going to Nuc School and I thought it would be good for him to see. 

I remember thinking when I was watching it how two people can have the exact same experience and react to it completely differently.  Some people can handle the culture in the military, others can't.  My Dad served in the Army for 24 years.  I did four years in the Air Force, but it wasn't for me to make it a career.  My son was going to join the Navy, but he changed his mind.  He says he may consider it later.

To just about everything Lee said ( I only say just about because my career path was naturally different)

I have served on Spue-Cans, Ticos, and Bird-Farms so I have a fairly broad base of experience. I didn't do my first shore duty until I was 10 years in.

Drills, while being tedious and inconvenient at times are absolutley essential. I have told my Sailors time and again when they complain that there is no such thing as "Rising to the occasion". You will automattically default to your level of training.

When you walked into the Recruiting office, you did see all the pictures of boats on the wall right?

As far as the documentary goes, every single carrier based one they do (have there been any other kind?) Is focused on the airdales. And with the kids mess-cranking  being "Food Service Attendants" they always fail to mention that it is a 90 day job that just about everyone has to do. Then they go back to their regular jobs.

Enough rambling, its dinner time.

Regards,

Jeff

I did tours on two carriers and have been working on carriers and submarines for the past 37 years. I still go to sea on occasions. I know there are some bad experiences to be had out at sea and in some foriegn ports. I've been to Bahrain, Kuwait, Dubai (the primarily Muslim ports that I suppose you are referring to, although not Yemen) and many others, (I'm a Vietnam vet, too, USS Ranger) and have been to a multitude of ports as a civilian on "big gray ships". But I've never had any extreme experiences when on the beach. But to compare service on a naval vessel to a prison sentence is totally out of line. My two sons and both of my daughters in law are active duty sailors and proudly serve. My God, man, what kind of experience did you have as a Coastie?  You have obviously never served on a carrier if you felt cramped for space, anyway, you can always go topside when you need some air, remember the sunsets and the stars? Drills, rules and regulations aren't there to punish you, they are necessary for the ship to function as a war weapon. I remember scrubbing toilets and the decks, but after you serve a while, someone else replaces you as you come up in the ranks. And besides, weren't you glad that they were scrubbed? What kind of scow were you on? It wasn't that bad. I see these kids doing the exact same duties, details and working parties that I participated in, and they still manage to keep a decent attitude. And the food on the ships today, while not gourmet, is still pretty dang good. Do they pay inmates in prison now? I've never been in prison, but if prison life is like Navy life, I might just have to do some crimes!

Oh, by the way, the moderators don't like foul language on the forum, be careful what you write.

subfixer wrote:

A prison? Not even close. It's the military.

Having been in both (worked in a prison) I can tell you that life afloat and life in prison are very similar. Before I watched this program I looked back with fondness on my cruises and deployments. Funny how time can fade certain memories. This program brought back just how crushingly awful it was at times. The mind numbing routine, feeling cramped for space all the time, the endless rules and regulations, drills that never stopped, b******* that expanded exponentially the higher the rank on the collar, one damn thing after another. The awful food, the awful ports of call (let's go to Muslim countries on a big gray boat without all the protections of a real Navy boat cuz we're just civilian pukes! Yeah that sounds like fun!), man it sucked. Day in, day out it sucked.

I'd do it all again though. It was definetely an adventure and the good times I did have were worth the cost.

i have to agree with Subfixer. Remember WHO made this documentary, and there was a definite slant to thier editing.  Many, many malcontents so much so that it made me begin to wonder about the mindset of today's Navy, but then I came to my senses and realized that this was edited with a mindset of swaying the opinon of the viewer.

 Most of it was pretty well done, I just wish it has been presented in a deliberately balanced fashion instead of editing the opinions down to anti-war, anti-US presence soundbites.