Vince,

I understand your defensive reaction to the statements about enlisted men, but really, this is the impression the PBS documentary gives its watchers. It's not subtle, either; for example, one girl said if she wasn't in the Navy, she'd "probably be dead or in jail". PBS is showing us that, while the Navy's enlisted are not the best and brightest, they are trained very well to do their jobs and they are looked after by the senior enlisted. I have no doubt that they support each other and watch each other's backs when the going gets rough. But this is one of the major benefits of the military - giving structure, support, and mentorship to so many people out of high school.

Please don't take offense; no one was intending it. It's just what we've seen from watching the show.

Well said Joe. I haven't seen the show myself, yet, but I get the premise.

I don't think anyone here is denigrating military service, but probably more responding to the show.

And Vince, I do understand getting your dander up, let's just keep it civil in here.

I don't get it...


A guy "Gave" 10 years of his life serving? No, you were employed by Uncle Sam for 10 years.

I get these emails from friends and family. As soon as they come I check Snopes to see if they're real. This General said this, this Marine did that, this sailor saw this. As soon as I see they're fake, I can hear my father in law go "But the message is what's important." I disagree. You label something as truth when it's not...THEN IT'S NOT REAL!!! I'm tired of half truths being wrapped in the flag, covered in yellow ribbon.

And I seen the first 4 episodes of Carrier by the way.

I was Army for 5 years. I've worn a Kevlar. I've humped a ruck. I did my time. And I served with some of the biggest retards on the planet.

Sorry fellas. I just don't agree. So, for the sake of harmony, I digress.

Vince

I don't see why the Navy lets a documentary be made that shows some of it's personnel and especially a carrier crew in less than a totally favorable light.

It serves no purpose at this time and creates controversy about a highly trained crew whose collective primary function is the defense of our country. I'm sure families of the 99.9% of upstanding young men and women don't like seeing them lumped in with those few who feel this was the alternative to jail or drugs, I'm sure there are better spokesmen or women out of the 5000 people on board.

This sends the wrong message.

wth are you talking about? it's real...if people cant take reality then they don't need to be in the military. you're basically saying that the opinions of the people who do 90% of the work dont matter? that the 'bad' people shouldn't have any input, and they should only talk to officers and chiefs or people with awards for good conduct? sorry man, but that's bs. thats what the recruiters do and this isn't a show to recruit people.
if they didn't show any of the 'bad' then you'd have a lot more kids like the racist guy there because they "didn't know" that there's zero tolerance for racism, or that having relationships on a boat is a bad idea; or that being out to sea for 6+ months SUCKS when you see the same people every day. im sorry; but lying to people (oh sorry; not telling the whole truth) isn't the way you get them to support something.

this show shows what was pretty much EXACTLY what my experience in the navy was. f**k sugar coating it. people need to know what they're going to be dealing with BEFORE they sign 4 years of their life away. i didn't know when i did it...yeah i had an idea but it was still beyond my comprehension; but i could still deal with it. some people cant. we had females fraternizing with other guys just so they'd get pregnant and get shore duty. we had guys purposely get busted for drugs so they'd get kicked out. people that were married would come home after six months and find that their spouse/significant other was cheating on them. there were people getting in trouble in almost every port because of alcohol. we had officers who snuck alcohol on board and had a party in their stateroom and got busted. what'd they get? 15 days of light restriction (they could still go on liberty but they had a curfew like the enlisted did). on the same deployment an enlisted came back to the ship too intoxicated (he had to be helped up the brow by his friends) and he got 15 days full restriction (cant leave the boat) and 15 days extra duty. so the double standard IS there.

and this was a DD with ~300 people...i could only imagine what goes on a carrier with 6000+ people.

i know i reflect on the bad; but there was also lots of good, and the show still shows that. but im just saying that filling people with a bunch of BS and propaganda isn't the right way to get them to support your country.

Make the next episode in the brig if you want reality.

whatever man. you just go on thinking that those guys are living the dream and everything will be all right huh

I guess noone saw that guy was using a JHMS

I saw it...he called it a "mercedes on your head" because it cost $60k...