It's time to cast off for an uber-motivated portrayal of the Navy with this PBS documentary on the nuclear-powered carrier USS Nimitz (h/t David Axe of War is Boring). Normally, gussied up photos and stats of the Navy (top speed: 30+ knots of awesome!) in the traditional media makes me want to vomit for some reason, but David Axe recommended it, so it is worth perusing. It is also good knowledge to know, since your tax dollars are paying for these colossal sea beasts. You can get some history and stats on the ship here, some info on their 2005 deployment and some candor from a Rear Admiral here, and an interview with "the crew" here. Generally when one refers to "the crew" in Navyspeak, that refers to the enlisted men and women who work for a living. But this montage is mostly aviation types and mostly officers. If this is big ploy to get people to join the aquatic branch during these tense times, then PBS has chosen wisely. If they had chosen servicemembers from the nuclear community who work in the carrier's engineroom, then they would've heard musings on how much their life sucked, complaints about the ship's internet not having enough bandwidth for World of Warcraft, and the wretched boredom of standing watch deep in the ship's hull. The aviation community is generally very proud of what they do and loves talking about themselves more than Paris Hilton at a self-help seminar. While the nuclear or "nuke" community (which I am part of) chooses to not celebrate the setbacks of their own life....which is probably a good thing.
A pilot's perspective...
...and a nuke's perspective
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