great series for carrier fans

One of the things that really struck me about the series was the role that females have assumed in the armed forces.  When I was applying for AOCS in 1974 the Navy was just starting to accept a limited number of females for flight training.  The lucky few that were accepted could only serve in non-combat slots.  It was unimaginable at that time that females would ever serve on warships.  Times change, but it must be a huge challenge to manage a bunch of 18 and 19 year old men and women serving and living together in such close quarters.

Mark

Referring to "bread and water" sentences in the ship's brig, we had a guy who had been sent to the brig for three days for some offense or other, probably an unauthorized absence (AWOL). Anyhoo, he escaped the brig for a few hours and, after his recapture, received a new sentence; three days of bread and water. This doofus was a big boy, about three hundred and twenty pounds, and was crying that they were starving him to death and begged the Marine guards for something to go along with his bread. After two days of crying and whining, the guards gave him a loaf of raisin bread. He methodically picked every raisin out of the bread and ate them one by one, savoring them as the most exotic of delicacies. The brig chasers (guards) on the Ranger had a bad reputation, there were two deaths attributed to them over-excersizing prisoners, and this show of mercy was an exception to the norm.

Here's a link to an account of one the incidents on the Ranger:

 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924752,00.html

 

 To all who saw the series but never served in the Navy, let alone a Bird-farm ( Aircraft Carrier);

  I served on the now decommissioned USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) from 9/83 to 6/85. During the time of my tour I was involved in the moving of bombs, rockets and much more as the JFK, a term allowed only to those who served aboard her, we were in direct support of the Marines in Beirut and the rest of the war over there. And I will tell you this much, no series, no TV camera crew and no wanna-be sailor news reporter can even come close to the reality of what goes on in a true life story of a sailor on any ship.

 What you saw was a served-up presentation of life on a ship and as one forum member said, there are two crews on an aircraft carrier, the ship's own crew, about 2500 and the airwing or air department which is the pilots, the navigators, the repair crew of the aircraft and only that which supports the aircraft (about another 2500). The ship is run by a distinct crew that operate everything from the engines to the food service, without the ship's own crew, there would be no airwing.

 The Commanding Officer (Navy rank of Captain) of every aircraft carrier is a Navy Aviator (Pilot) and he runs the whole show, everything. He is followed by the Executive Officer is also a Navy-rank Captain, he runs all of the administrative duties up to and including discipline of the entire crew. Next down the list is the Air Wing Commander, he or she runs the entire Air Operations Wing all the way from actually flying aircraft to the needs of operations of the air wing crews.

 There are more websites about the military than the civilian population of the world deserves to see but that is freedom at work, and the aircraft carrier of any type, mostly nuclear powered sees to that freedom. Just a note here, not all aircraft carriers have nuclear power and they must all get replenished with food, jet -fuel and a bunch of other supplies that are needed constantly. Imagine Walmart and Shell Gas pulling up to your home in giant trucks a few times a month and having to unload them yourself, and it's raining and the wind is blowing in your face at 40 mph. You might get a glimmer of what it is like to "shop" out to sea.

 Perhaps one day I'll write a book about reality shows on TV, the kind that will never sell because they are full of the truth. I'm one who can post this type of information because I served on a "bird farm", now I'm retired after 24 years of honorable service and two wars.

 Crusty but never rusty,

 johncpo

Just got the DVD set (as a birthday present).  The last disc has a "featurette" which is basicallly a condensed version of the entire series, plus some addition stuff that didn't make in into the broadcast version.  One segment is a detailed tour of the flight deck that discusses the different aircraft and the catapult operations. A few tidbits:

• The Prowlers are regarded as the most dangerous to the deck crew due to their low-slung intakes.
• They teach deck crew not to touch the aircraft unless their job requires it - too many pinch points, etc.  There is great shot of a Hornet on the cat cycling its flight controls where everything is moving in seemingly different directions at the same time.
• How they teach the flight deck crew to hold a hand above their head when they duck to pass behind a jet exhaust - if they feel heat with their hand they need to duck lower.

Another interesting segment is a detailed tour of the brig.  They have a couple of isolation cells plus a general population area.  The officer in charge says it is seldom used (maybe a couple times a cruise), but serves mostly as a deterent.  Oh, and they really do sentence prisoners to bread and water...

I've enjoyed watching the entire series again - you notice additional details that you missed the first time.  Although I enjoyed the human-interest perspective, I did get tired of the whiny ordinance guy who had knocked-up his girlfriend. 

Mark

I have to admit I like the series.  It reminds me of my time on LHD's.  The stories are so familiar.  There's the guy who's mouth keeps him in trouble.  There are the people who are too stuborn to adapt to those around him.  There are those men and women that get too close.  The best part is watching the eternal fight against boredom.  Boxing Gloves, treadmills, Playstations, books, and carepackages are some of the ammo on the war on boredom. 

As an Airwing Marine on a little helicopter deck, I didn't like life on ship and I can identify with the sailors on "Carrier."   Thankfully, they let us off the boat to "play" for 4 months on my cruise.  I perfer a flightline surrounded by sand to a flight deck and GP tent to a coffin rack.  I felt bad for those guys who were stuck on the boat.  I considered myself lucky when we got rides overseas from the Air Force instead of the Navy.    

Semper Fi,

Chris   

I missed the first two hours, but on the whole I thought the series was great. I bet it wins whatever awards go to a documentary. However, I agree with subfixer that it focused on air ops a little too much. I'd have liked to see some scenes of the crew as they moored the ship, for instance. They showed about a half second of the anchor going down.

Having had a career at sea (though not in the Navy) from the pre-email/satellite phone era to recently, I have to say searat12 has a point. It's a mixed blessing to be in constant contact with home.

A short sea story:

I was on watch with an older AB who marvelled at the daily, almost hourly contact we enjoy now. He said back in the 60s he was on a tanker, down in the bottom of the cargo tanks mucking out, literally scrapping up scale and sludge with scoops and hoisting it up in buckets. At one point the Bos'n came to the tank top and shouted down, "Hey, Jonesy, Sparks says to tell ya, ya just had twins! Here comes another bucket."

I watched this program the other day, but was not too impressed.... The whole show was everyone whining about how much they wanted to go home, and how their love-lives were all screwed up because of their deployment...... And the whole time they appear to be in telephone contact with the folks 'back home!'  I remember some of this when I was in the Gulf War, but we only had a couple opportunities to call home while over there.  Really screws people up, and I wonder if it wouldn't be better to simply remain incommunicado until returning, just to keep people's heads on straight.  Personally, I have been rather enjoying the show 'Battle 360' on the History channel, which has been about the career of the USS Enterprise in WW2.....

I have to wait for Netflix, since I have not had the time to watch. Or get the boxed set for Christmas, 40USD already announced, a good price actually

I watched for the first time last night, because I've been working nights all week, all about returning from a cruise. It was really amazing and well done, at least to me who has no experience in such. There's a great part where they sail into Pearl Harbor and salute the Arizona.

One of the main characters was a woman who's in flight control.

I definitely plan to see all ten at some point.

yeah, the racist who wasn't really a racist. :)

subfixer, as i'm not really watching it as i'm doing or watching other stuff, what i have seen does talk or show the regular crew members' lifes onboard. 1 segment i saw was a seaman in his dress whites going to a captain's mast.

Have there been any that don't focus on airedales?

   Yeah, let's hear it for the "black shoe" Navy!
 

When I say "ship's crew" or the "ship's force", I am referring to the members of the actual ship's company or the people who are permanently assigned to the ship. The airwing (the squadrons and their command structure) is not a permenant part of the crew of an aircraft carrier and are treated as bad in-laws. I mean the real crew of the ship like the engineering department, the deck department, the operations department, the navigation department, the medical department, etc., that make up the real ship's crew. Have they been depicted in any detail during this show?

Yes. there is a good balance. Some of the episodes have dealt with enlisted, interactions with officers..

I've seen a few episodes, but it seems that the only ones that I've seen center around the members of the airwing and not the ship's crew. Have there been any that don't focus on airedales?

Yeah, I've been enjoying the show. The theme song's great, too, with lines like: "Haze gray and underway..."