"Carrier" 10 part series PBS; anyone?

[amicus]

Just wondering if anyone else is watching this series?

Surprised by the dialog this evening to learn that it was recorded in 2004 as they mentioned three years after 9/11.

A PBS camera crew embedded aboard the USS Nimitz for an entire deployment cycle from departure from the West coast of the US to arrival in the Persian Gulf.

I am suspicious of PBS are the majority of their programming is left oriented and I rather expected this program to be also...

It is a hodgepodge of coverage featuring both Officers and Enlisted, men and women, gays, lesbians, 'don't ask, don't tell' rhetoric, racism, both pro war and anti war viewpoints from many sources.

It is not as well done as others featuring aircraft carriers, the action scenes are few and far between with the social life of the sailors and marines being the focal point in most episodes.

I suspect that with it being recorded about four years ago that it is being aired at this time to generate discussion prior to the General Election coming up in November.

Quite a few comments, amazingly fairly balanced thus far, about why the US is in Iraq and what the purpose is.

Not sure if this is episode three or five, saw both displayed...

Amicus...

 

[Weird Harold]

I've caught parts of it, but didn't find it interesting enough to stick with.

I did notice that Mel Gibson is credited as one of three producers -- but I'm not sure what that means about the shows biases, if any.

 

[amicus]

Spent four years in the Navy a lifetime ago, didn't serve on a carrier but went aboard one, big mutha's, even back then.

Thanks for the comment...

amicus...

 

[JagFarlane]

Both of my parents have been avidly watching the series. My Dad though, has the slight advantage that I was able to bring him on for a Tiger Cruise [one day out to sea for friends n family to come aboard and go out with the ship]. Its important to note that, you won't see much action. A lot of life aboard a carrier is just the basic stuff that you point out that PBS is showing, a lot of crew's life and such. And of course, there are a lot of things you won't see...such as my dad pointed out, they skimmed right over Reactor Dept...but most of that material is classified information and they don't have the ability to speak about it. Otherwise, he is enjoying it, because really, it points out more realistically, life aboard a carrier.

 

[amicus]

Thank you, Jag, yes, daily life in a floating city of over 5,000 men and women in harm's way, it has been an entertaining series thus far.

I find it curious that the Navy which no doubt edited the content, allowed so many negative opinions of a political nature about the war to be included in the broadcast.

Many of the young people, the Enlisted ones are 19 & 20 years old, have no idea why we are in Iraq and about half seem to think the United States should not be there.

Which is why I said, the timing of the broadcast is, in my opinion, planned to influence the coming election from the anti-war side.

From another aspect, many of the young sailors, men and women, openly talk about their past, criminal records, parents on drugs, teen pregnancies, run-aways, kids that went into the Navy as a last chance to salvage their lives.

All kinds of romances going on, straight and gay, conflicts, fights, racial conflict between blacks and whites and kids that just can'[t cope with the rigors and discipline of military life.

I have been a military buff forever, so very little is new about service life and attitudes, but this is a slightly different perspective and the content and commentary and implications are sometimes very subtle and curious.

Amicus...

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I tried to watch it. All I could really make out of it was a bunch of Aviation Deck Apes bitching about how bad they have it and another bunch of Jet Jockys limenting the fact they can't bomb anyone. Christ, those people have bowling alleys, cantineens, and all the amenities.

Frankly, the idea of a modern aircraft carrier in "harm's way" is just silly. They never venture closer than 150 miles from harm. I can't junderstand whey PBS would actually sttop to trying to show this as the real Navy. Put the crew of the Nimitz on frigates or smaller boats without all the goodies then watch them bitch.

 

[amicus]

Interesting perspective, Jenny, but hardly the point of either the series or sea power.

Although I can already hear your complaints, a Carrier Air Group, a CAG, is an extension of military power unparalleled in military history.

Somewhere in the program I heard that the United States has twelve aircraft carriers, thus CAG's as they are always escorted by several other vessels.

Each of the Nimitz Class carriers support about 70 of the state of the art warplanes that can alter the balance of military power anywhere in the world within a very few days.

Oftentimes, as with the Korean Peninsula, the mere presence of a carrier group can relax political tensions between possible combatants.

Most do not appreciate the role the United States has as the only remaining Super Power and the military presence displayed in all corners of the world.

It is intended and seems to function as a peace keeping effort comparable to 'speaking softly but carrying a big stick..."

I find military strategy in the nuclear age and especially naval strategy most intriguing.

Amicus...

 

[amicus]

Wow! Episode four, landing aircraft during a storm with high seas and pitching deck, on the edge of the chair!

amicus...

 

[McKenna]

I watched the first 2 hours, not sure if that's episodes 1-4 or 1-2? Interesting for the first hour, I got distracted during the second.

Big ships. I liked seeing the pomp and circumstance around sailing into Pearl Harbor. As for the rest? Meh. Interesting. But not overly so.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I dont watch tv, so I'll miss this series. Documentaries always miss what really goes on, and the producers make lots of shit up.

 

[jomar]

Thanks Ami, I almost started a thread to note the series. I've only caught a couple (one was when the guy was disciplined for what may or may not have been rape).

Life aboard a carrier and how it functions like a city on the sea. Reminded me a bit so far of the documentaries of how cruise ships and hotels function in all their complexity. Looking forward to seeing a few more, especially planes landing during high seas.

 

[JagFarlane]

I tried to watch it. All I could really make out of it was a bunch of Aviation Deck Apes bitching about how bad they have it and another bunch of Jet Jockys limenting the fact they can't bomb anyone. Christ, those people have bowling alleys, cantineens, and all the amenities.

Frankly, the idea of a modern aircraft carrier in "harm's way" is just silly. They never venture closer than 150 miles from harm. I can't junderstand whey PBS would actually sttop to trying to show this as the real Navy. Put the crew of the Nimitz on frigates or smaller boats without all the goodies then watch them bitch.

rotflmao. Let them bitch? More like like them cry in joy -smirks- One of my very good friends recently was transferred from our carrier to a destroyer, and he couldn't have been happier, for numerous reasons, but I'll give you the top three:

1) The food is much better. On a carrier they are cooking for thousands and so just turn out food as fast as possible, not always caring if it tastes edible or not. On a destroyer, with its smaller crew, they are given the luxury of having the time to properly cook food.

2) Smaller ships hit more ports. Due to a carriers size, as well as the fact that she has nuclear power, they are often denied ports or have to anchor miles from land and crew be carried by small boats to land. A destroyer, frigate, etc has the ability to pull right up to the dock and during the average cruise will hit many more ports than the carrier its with. For example, on carrier did a 2 month cruise in the Carribean and went to two ports. Its frigate escort hit five ports in that same time.

3) Prestige. Sure, on a carrier you're the big dog, the massive ship in port. However, internally that means that generally only your department really knows who you are. The higher ups won't know you at all. Vice when my friend went to the destroyer, and the Executive Officer and the Command Master Chief had stayed late just so they could meet him, welcome him aboard the ship, introduce him to those whom he'd work with, and ask if there was anything he needed thier help with, in sorting out in his career.

 

[JagFarlane]

Wow! Episode four, landing aircraft during a storm with high seas and pitching deck, on the edge of the chair!

amicus...

LOL reminded me when we had pilots in training...and watching from one station as the trainer jet hit the deck, then made a radical right turn and headed for the island. Fortunatly the wire stopped em but oh man....scary as hell

 

[trysail]

My cousin is a former naval aviator. We've spent a lot of time on sailboats together and we've covered a lot of sea miles. He is a fellow who is the embodiment of "The Right Stuff." (If you've never read Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff, do yourself a favor— get a copy and read it before you die). There is only a small handful of people in the world possessing the seamanship, judgment and temperment sufficient for me to get on a sailboat and go anywhere in the world— he's one of 'em.

Like many of his kind, he doesn't broadcast his accomplishments or experiences. Through him, I've always had a window on the world of naval aviation. There have been many descriptions of the dangers; some of the most memorable are: people getting cut in half by snapped landing cables (that image will stick in my mind forever) and "brown underwear" resulting from night landings on pitching decks in dirty weather guided only by the meatball.

Last night's episode of "Carrier" contained the best depiction of the heart-stopping difficulty of putting a jet on a pitching carrier deck in the dark of night that I can imagine. The filmmakers and editors did a first-rate, excellent job conveying just how incredibly fucking hard it is to do without flying into either the back of the ship or the ocean.

One fine day, on a to-die-for broad reach in the trades, the fact emerged that my cousin had completed over FIVE HUNDRED carrier sorties. I nearly fell off the boat in utter astonishment; it is no overstatement to say that the revelation absolutely took my breath away, leaving me incapable of doing anything other than shake my head in wonder. I knew that I was looking at a living ghost. The odds of surviving 500 carrier takeoffs and landings are staggeringly low.

 

[JagFarlane]

Mmmmm reminds me of the now infamous George Washington snapped cable video. Shows one man whom somehow managed to leap over a snapped wire not once, but twice. Several others were severly injured but for that one sailor, he managed to avoid injury and escape the odds that he would have been killed

 

[amicus]

Trysail, curious how birds of a feather really do stick together.

Bought an old sailboat abandoned at a dock on the Miami River, way back when. Turned out to be a John Alden design, gaff rigged cutter built in 1926. Refurbished her and sailed the Bahama's for a year or so.

And yes, a 'real' seaman is a hard critter to spot anymore.

The ocean is as fickle as a woman, twice as dangerous and has no weaknesses.

Regards...

Amicus...