Posted on 04/19/2022 11:39:41 AM PDT by chief lee runamok
Edited on 04/19/2022 1:20:18 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Someone I know served on that ship. Says these were intentional suicides from deplorable conditions. Which may be why the change.
Why are we putting up with this crap in the military? A boy meet a girl. We know how that goes. It's human nature.
My wife got a video for me to watch some years back made by PBS called “Carrier” which, given my military background, she thought I might like.
It was appalling.
It was a coed crew, and I was embarrassed and ashamed to watch that. Hey, nearly everyone who has ever served understood homesickness and all that kind of thing, but this was awful for me to watch.
I know deployment cycles are longer, which fewer port visits, and when they do visit ports, they can’t blow of steam as sailors used to, but...that was depressing to watch.
The emotional fragility of these sailors just absolutely blew me away, crying on camera, the whole nine yards.
I know it is PBS, and knowing them, they probably looked for the worst footage that showed the military in the most degrading light they could find, but still.
I never, ever knew anyone or heard of anyone who was that over the edge during my tour. We had a guy who leaped off the stern as we were leaving Norfolk on deployment (story was he saw his wife/girlfriend smooching some guy on the dock as we departed) and we had another guy jump overboard as we passed through the Straits of Messina who was never found (speculation was he was going to try to swim to shore) but not a whole ship of sniveling, crying wusses. (okay, it wasn’t the whole ship, but this behavior seemed perfectly accepted by people.)
I wonder what the deplorable conditions might have been.
My gut impression is that it is bad leadership, bad training, and bad morale, combined with longer and more frequent deployments.
And someone told me you can’t even go ashore alone or in an independent group on liberty in foreign countries. Everything has to be arranged and scheduled.
I suppose I can’t blame them for going stir crazy in that respect. Can’t even tie one on or blow off steam.
When I was in Asia — especially when I was remote — we sucked it up and did our duty to the best of our ability. We dealt with loneliness and separation the way troops have done for millenia: We drank liquor and played cards and read paperbacks and told lies and bitched and moaned. But we did our duty.
Exactly.
And when I was in, you bitched, but if you did too much, someone was sure to say something like “Hey. Nobody twisted your arm to sign that form, you asked for this.”
And, btw, thanks for your service, FRiend.
“And, btw, thanks for your service, FRiend.”
Same to you. And Welcome Home.
Gibbs is MIA on NCIS, living the dream in Alaska.
Indeed...:)
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