I've deployed with HSL/HSM dets on frigates, cruisers, and briefly a destroyer. I lived the carrier life on my disassociated sea tour as ship's company (non-flying job). Here's my 2 cents:
CRUDES (i.e. small boys):
-Better food. Actually, food is the same, but because they aren't mass producing it for 5,000 people, it's fresher, hotter, and if you have some good culinary specialists on board, they tend to have a little more leeway than their carrier brethren to make the food a little more interesting. That being said, the carrier will generally have more options available to you, and midrats is probably more legit (mmm breakfast burritos), but the "options" are varied and often of low quality...I'm looking at you, hot dog bar.
-Port vists. To echo mikwat, port visits are more varied (carrier is restricted to certain ports because of its size), liberty call is far less of a goat rope, and you don't feel like you're running in to drunk sailors at every corner in town. Because port visits are more varied since the ships can be accommodated almost anywhere, I've pulled in to some great ports, and I've pulled in to some so-so ports.
-Flying. This is what it comes down to. Flying off the small boy has its ups and downs. On the upside, it feels nice walking around the ship being one of maybe six pilots out of 200-300+, as opposed to the carrier where you're just another guy/gal in green. Since the Air Det is a relatively small department on the ship, and your mission set has such a large impact, you are constantly interacting with the Captain, XO, and department heads...even as a junior H2P. I think this is a good thing, some may disagree, and I suppose it depends on the ship. Your words carry a lot of weight. On the downside, the CRUDES is not an aviation ship, and their proficiency when dealing with flight ops, if poor, can be extremely dangerous. It's incumbent upon the air det to ensure the ship is being held to high standards. From a maintenance perspective, you will deploy with a PUK (Pack Up Kit) of essential aircraft and mission system spare parts. If you exhaust these parts, or break something that is not in the PUK, you're typically having to scramble to find a part on another ship (usually the carrier), or on shore.
CARRIER
- There is a LOT of everything. People, MWR activities, workout opportunities (yoga in the foc'sle!)...hell, even a Starbucks. On the downside, there is a LOT of everything. People, lines, waiting...there is no escape. From a pure quality of life standpoint, my stateroom was the best I've ever lived in, we never ran out of hot water (unlike many, many times on the small boy), and finding a place to work out was a breeze.
- Flying. The truth is, this is what Naval Aviation is all about. Even in my community, if you don't have some sort of carrier experience, you are behind your peers. Integrating with the air wing, experiencing flight ops, working the airspace. You'll be flying basically the same missions as the CRUDES dets, like SSC/MISR, but the constant interaction with CAG and the other squadrons is invaluable. But it can also be more of a hassle, and the ship is not nearly as flexible with helo ops as the small boy.
- Support/supply. If something breaks, the carrier has the means to replace it, or fix it, much easier than the small boy. AIMD (a higher level, more specialized maintenance department) is located on the carrier and is a yuuuuge asset to have so close. Never ran out of food on the carrier either...definitely spent a few days eating thawed chicken patties and brown lettuce on the small boy.
Overall, and I may be biased, but I prefer the CRUDES life. Yes, you feel at times half-SWO, but I like the smaller, tighter community on the ship where by the end of the deployment, you know the name of just about every sailor on board. I also like not walking in to a bar during port visit and seeing 100 of my fellow shipmates waiting to order a drink. I'll suck up the occasional cold shower from time to time if I know I'm getting a meal that hasn't been sitting in a warmer for five hours.
