Reply #9: I spent two years on an aircraft carrier during the 'Nam period. [View All]

[happydreams]

I spent 2 years on a carrier during the Nam period. I never saw anything remotely like the indoctrination of these kids in "Carrier".
There were "Bible thumpers", but they were not in control the way they are in "Carrier". One of these thumpers, a shop supervisor, put me in his cross hairs for termination (more like demotion) when he realized my views on religion (and everything else) weren't in line with his. It was quite a fight (not physical). What set it off was One day he tried to "save me".
I said: "Fuck That! I want to raise some HELL when we hit Naples!" Women, wine, pizza and song!" Then I started asking the guys in the shop who had been to Naples before where the best bars and shit were. The shop we were working in roared with laughter and the thumper got very pissed. I had, albeit unconventionally, challenged his authority. This guy was a real :puke:. Always had spit-shined shoes and a shiny little chevron on his lapel as well as his hat.



He accused me of something I didn't do (missing duty) and filed a report which required command to met out punishment. And I was grounded on the ship for a number of port calls. This was very serious punishment when so much depends on getting a break from the grueling routine on the ship. Plus it was entered on my otherwise clean record. I proved later that I had never missed duty, but, nevertheless the punishment was carried out. That is the way in the military. Saving face is more important than justice.



I was never so pissed in my life. I goddamn near brained his ass at an opportune moment, but then I started, probably for the first time in my life, to think.



This incident sparked creative juices I didn't know I had and I learned how to deal with other assholes in my life.



I simply fucked this guys life all up. I sabotaged his work (electronics); changed his time and place on the duty roster causing him to miss duty, I even shit canned his mail from his lovy-dovy wife (A whiny phony Southern Bell that I didn't like anyway) leading him to worry about his relationship with her when "she stopped writing".



One day I overheard him talking to another guy in the shop: "She said she's been writing??" he complained. :applause:



In an otherwise boring environment his demise was a nice distraction. I became very creative in messing with him as I saw the bastard start sweating. He was reprimanded, then demoted from the shop supervisor role and eventually booted out of the shop--a cozy job below decks--and sent back on "the Line" (the Flight deck). The Flight deck is one dangerous place, hot, noisy, and unpredictable. I guy on the ship I knew was killed there, and I almost bought it a few times when I worked there. Man, was I relieved when this thumper was gone.



If you watch "Carrier" none of this kind of thing, which is commonplace in the military, is shown. "Carrier" is pure propaganda that doesn't reveal the dark side of living in such an environment. A person that outranks you, as this thumper did me, can flat out fuck your life up.

There were a couple of other occasions where I was nearly a victim of idiot--assholes who outranked me and there was nothing I could do about it. In one case I nearly got caught up in a smuggling operation that I had not a clue about. I helped load the shit on an aircraft thinking is was legit cargo. This operation resulted in a shop mate of mine going to prison--a patsy. The military is like being in prison only without its protections.

I once took a course in college which included a segment on "dealing with problem people in the work place". I got an A for this story, plus my professor laughed his ass off.