• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

"Carrier" PBS Documentary

Rokovak

New Member
That documentary alone made me want to get back in the Navy. Perhaps a different aspect of the Navy, however. I enjoyed submarine life, but certainly not enough to go back to it. This time around, I'm taking in as much sun and blue sky and humanly possible. I need the carrier life.
 

BigIron

Remotely piloted
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
A....On the JO to Chief level not so much, although Chiefs will still always refer to JO's as Sir and show them the respect required. Chiefs are responsible for helping to mentor Junior Officers even though JOs outrank them so chiefs will be quick to put a JO in line (usually behind closed doors). It is a complicated situation, but it works and has worked for a long time....

I expect the CPO to mentor the newer JOs (first tour ENS, JG, younger LTs) how to deal with the troopers and how to assist them in administrative stuff. I also expect the CPO to help train the JO in their DIVO duties. That's about where it ends. I'm not sure what you meant by saying "put a JO in line," but don't think this is the CPO having a one way with the JO standing at attention. It doesn't work that way. If you are talking about what should be professional discourse (albeit heated at times) out of sight of the troops, then I'll buy that. LDOs and warrants are in a whole category of themselves. Usually the mentoring is from Officer to CPO at that point.

The main problems I have seen are the former enlisted JOs that seem to have problems with the CPOs - that's where I see power struggles.

As far as the show, I think it's a pretty good snapshot of a CVN at sea and in port. I was ship's company on a carrier when it came out. I didn't want to watch the show at the time as I could witness similar happenings (without the edit) every day in real time.
 

Boomhower

Shoot, man, it's that dang ol' internet
None
The show reminded me of the time a buddy of mine emailed a bunch of us on the boat to ask our advice on whether he should go Hawkeyes or P-3's out of Corpus. Never ask anyone that has been on the boat for the last 5 months if you should take a boat assignment. Of course they are going to tell you "NO!"

Same thing with this series. You stick a camera in a bunch of sailors faces after they've been on the boat for a number of months and what do you think you are going to hear? Bitching is what you are going to hear. That's what "Carrier" gives you. Bitching sailors.

I was actually pretty amazed that the Navy let all of that get out and I do have to hand it to PBS. They managed to find some of the unique stories that were happening on that boat. Salsa dancing Marine with the incredibly shitty childhood, AO with the cheating girlfriend (in hindsight, that's not that unique), the gay kid, etc.

Overall, I liked the show. But, I had been out of the Navy for a couple of years and hadn't been on the boat in about 5 years when it came out. If I was deployed, it would be the LAST thing I would watch. I did love the quote from one guy that said, "This is just one big ass, floating High School" talking about the drama among the junior enlisted folks.
 

BACONATOR

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
True, but then again, >75% of the aircraft are hornets of some type on a boat.

Meh, such is life. You never saw an episode of JAG about LAMPS either. Jets are just the most visible, "sexy" airplane of the Navy. No big deal.
 

scoolbubba

Brett327 gargles ballsacks
pilot
Contributor
Meh, such is life. You never saw an episode of JAG about LAMPS either. Jets are just the most visible, "sexy" airplane of the Navy. No big deal.

Speak for yourself. The Warpig got its cameo next to megan fox in the last michael bay-splosion transformers movie. It was the only thing he did not blow up, too.
 

AirPirate

Active Member
pilot
I love me some Hornets, but I think of the show like any airshow at Lemoore or Oceana where you get to see an assortment of static display Hornets under the roar of the charlie Hornet demo followed by the Canadian Hornet demo followed by half-a-dozen air power demonstration Hornets followed by the Navy legacy formation (Hornet) fly-by followed by the Super Hornet demo followed by the Blues flying Hornets. It's unavoidable -- we've done it to ourselves.
 

cmcalvert

Sep-11 SNA Pro Rec
As an OCS applicant, I certainly can't speak from experience, but I think anyone considering the Navy should watch Carrier... officer or enlisted. If nothing else, it's entertaining and gives at least some idea of what life on a Navy surface ship is like.

This is definitely one of the darker story lines from the show, but what about the First Class on SAVI duty? Sad to see something like that happen to a good sailor by all other accounts.
 

bunk22

Super *********
pilot
Super Moderator
As an OCS applicant, I certainly can't speak from experience, but I think anyone considering the Navy should watch Carrier... officer or enlisted. If nothing else, it's entertaining and gives at least some idea of what life on a Navy surface ship is like.

This is definitely one of the darker story lines from the show, but what about the First Class on SAVI duty? Sad to see something like that happen to a good sailor by all other accounts.

Are you prior? What until you deploy or just get to a squadron and see what goes on. The military is a small section of real life and you will see all sorts of shit, especially if you are the legal officer. We had child porn, battery/assault, rape, drug use (cocaine and heroin) etc at one squadron and that was all in 6 months.
 

Alpha_Echo_606

Does not play well with others!™
Contributor
As an OCS applicant, I certainly can't speak from experience, but I think anyone considering the Navy should watch Carrier... officer or enlisted. If nothing else, it's entertaining and gives at least some idea of what life on a Navy surface ship is like.

This is definitely one of the darker story lines from the show, but what about the First Class on SAVI duty? Sad to see something like that happen to a good sailor by all other accounts.
As prior enlisted this is a fair recruiting video. A full 6 to 9 month deployment will have the majority of what carrier showed plus all the dirty little secrets that it doesn't show. If the Navy let them air all that goes on during a cruise it would be a much darker show. They only touched on the brighter points and a few negative aspects, like bunk22 said so much is left out. That said I wouldn't trade any on my work-ups or 3 cruises for anything. They made me what I am today and that is way better than the road I was going down before enlisting!
 
Top