Mountain FogCARRIER: (USS NIMITZ)
February 14th 2010 06:54
Carrier is an Emmy Award winning television documentary series, (DVD release date 14th March, 2010). It comprises four discs, covering many episodes. Yes, it is about the leviathans of the sea, a USA naval aircraft carrier, but, for those who do not love seeing the nuts and bolts of the biggest war machine ever created, this series still has a lot to interest you if you like to delve into other people’s lives.
The aircraft carrier we are introduced to is the USS Nimitz, which is a super-carrier, (“Nimitz class”) which, apart from being the most lethal, largest and formidable weapons platform in the world, is also a floating city for over five thousand souls.
With the accent on the series being mainly on the human element, we get to know some of the characters working aboard while living under an airport runway that never, ever, sleeps!
The conditions for some of the crew, in their sleeping quarters and working posts, leave a lot to be desired. The bottom of the rung crew sleep in a cabin that has six bunks, three aside, with a thin aisle to stand in between them. The bunks look less roomy than your averaged sized coffin! The crew have to organize themselves so they get out of bed at different times and shower and dress accordingly.
For those dreaming of being buddied up to so many males, or females, (quite a few of them are gay too), this is not your ideal honeymoon cruise lifestyle. Sexual fraternization between the sexes is against policy, and the rule of “don’t ask, don’t tell”, applies to gays. Even holding hands is considered an offence which carries punishment. However, a married couple are on the crew, but a blind eye is turned towards that, as long as they do not enact physical affection for each other.
Many sleep right under the deck and when jets land, you hear it and you feel it. No one sleeps through it, but they become accustomed to the background noise and roll over, or do they just slide sideways a little?
I must admit, before I saw Carrier, I thought navies were being kinder to their crew these days, but, in the US Navy at least, you even have to pay for your meals, that rather staggered me. The Australian Navy, as far as I know, do not make their people pay for meals.
I just had a cunning thought; since Australia is having trouble getting enough people to enlist, in the submariners particularly and other disciplines, maybe if they advertised the Aussie military working conditions in America, they would get all the recruits they needed?
Anyway, back to the 101,000 (long ton) monster; we get to meet and know a little about each area of work, from the wheel house to the garbage detail which, incidentally, prides itself on being non-polluting; they remove most of the plastic from garbage that gets dumped overboard each day, but bundle cans into hessian bags and slop out the food stuff. This is hardly cutting edge environmentalism…
However, what amazed me about this series is, the crew often speak their minds, they are critical of conditions, they openly state they know many gays onboard, and do not look forward to heading into arenas of conflict. Mind you, there is also a fair share of archetypal buzz-cut grunts overburdened with testosterone and under-burdened with compassion, no surprise there.
I actually liked this introduction to the series and intend to review the rest of it, when I get my hands on the DVDs. You get a more balanced and realistic view of Americans working in the military; they are not all flag waving, pro-American foreign policy, military blockheads, we see people who are working in it just to survive financially, not that the unskilled get paid much. We meet people who really want to live in a world that is safe and peaceful for all, and you see the apprehension in some crew when, after leaving Hong Kong, they are told they are heading north, to Korea.
Of course, at the pointy end of all that grey metal, is the top brass, who serve their political masters to the letter, even if that would mean annihilating a country.
The only people who gain from war are those politicians who enjoy protection from the electorate, while a war is waged and the vast industrial-military complex, that occult cabal of bomb makers, who need to sell arms, to make a profit.
In closing, Australia needs aircraft carriers. We have none, yet we are an island continent. Aircraft carriers would also allow us to do more good in the world, by serving as a movable platform from which vital aid can be quickly dispensed.
Haiti is benefiting from a US carrier as I write.
Aircraft carriers would also allow us to better protect our borders and also allow us to monitor and protect endangered species, such as the whales. By the way, last I heard, Japan is starting to build carriers again…
ICON FILM DISTRIBUTION: Australian DVD release date: 14th March 2010.
CREDITS
Genre: Documentary
Developed by Mitchell Block
Directed by Maro Chermayeff
Country of origin: United States
Language: English
Episodes: 10
Production
Executive Producers:
Mel Gibson, Bruce Davey, Nancy Cotton, Mitchell Block, Maro Chermayeff
Producers:
Deborah Dickson and Jeff Dupre
Running time:
10 hours, 1 hour each episode
Broadcast
Original channel PBS
Picture format 480i (SDTV letterboxed),
1080i (HDTV)
Original run April 27, 2008 – May 1, 2008
IMAGE CREDIT: This image is a work of a sailor or employee of the U.S. Navy, taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
USS NIMITZ: 103.000 tons of hell!
The aircraft carrier we are introduced to is the USS Nimitz, which is a super-carrier, (“Nimitz class”) which, apart from being the most lethal, largest and formidable weapons platform in the world, is also a floating city for over five thousand souls.
With the accent on the series being mainly on the human element, we get to know some of the characters working aboard while living under an airport runway that never, ever, sleeps!
The conditions for some of the crew, in their sleeping quarters and working posts, leave a lot to be desired. The bottom of the rung crew sleep in a cabin that has six bunks, three aside, with a thin aisle to stand in between them. The bunks look less roomy than your averaged sized coffin! The crew have to organize themselves so they get out of bed at different times and shower and dress accordingly.
For those dreaming of being buddied up to so many males, or females, (quite a few of them are gay too), this is not your ideal honeymoon cruise lifestyle. Sexual fraternization between the sexes is against policy, and the rule of “don’t ask, don’t tell”, applies to gays. Even holding hands is considered an offence which carries punishment. However, a married couple are on the crew, but a blind eye is turned towards that, as long as they do not enact physical affection for each other.
Many sleep right under the deck and when jets land, you hear it and you feel it. No one sleeps through it, but they become accustomed to the background noise and roll over, or do they just slide sideways a little?
I must admit, before I saw Carrier, I thought navies were being kinder to their crew these days, but, in the US Navy at least, you even have to pay for your meals, that rather staggered me. The Australian Navy, as far as I know, do not make their people pay for meals.
I just had a cunning thought; since Australia is having trouble getting enough people to enlist, in the submariners particularly and other disciplines, maybe if they advertised the Aussie military working conditions in America, they would get all the recruits they needed?
Anyway, back to the 101,000 (long ton) monster; we get to meet and know a little about each area of work, from the wheel house to the garbage detail which, incidentally, prides itself on being non-polluting; they remove most of the plastic from garbage that gets dumped overboard each day, but bundle cans into hessian bags and slop out the food stuff. This is hardly cutting edge environmentalism…
However, what amazed me about this series is, the crew often speak their minds, they are critical of conditions, they openly state they know many gays onboard, and do not look forward to heading into arenas of conflict. Mind you, there is also a fair share of archetypal buzz-cut grunts overburdened with testosterone and under-burdened with compassion, no surprise there.
I actually liked this introduction to the series and intend to review the rest of it, when I get my hands on the DVDs. You get a more balanced and realistic view of Americans working in the military; they are not all flag waving, pro-American foreign policy, military blockheads, we see people who are working in it just to survive financially, not that the unskilled get paid much. We meet people who really want to live in a world that is safe and peaceful for all, and you see the apprehension in some crew when, after leaving Hong Kong, they are told they are heading north, to Korea.
Of course, at the pointy end of all that grey metal, is the top brass, who serve their political masters to the letter, even if that would mean annihilating a country.
The only people who gain from war are those politicians who enjoy protection from the electorate, while a war is waged and the vast industrial-military complex, that occult cabal of bomb makers, who need to sell arms, to make a profit.
In closing, Australia needs aircraft carriers. We have none, yet we are an island continent. Aircraft carriers would also allow us to do more good in the world, by serving as a movable platform from which vital aid can be quickly dispensed.
Haiti is benefiting from a US carrier as I write.
Aircraft carriers would also allow us to better protect our borders and also allow us to monitor and protect endangered species, such as the whales. By the way, last I heard, Japan is starting to build carriers again…
ICON FILM DISTRIBUTION: Australian DVD release date: 14th March 2010.
CREDITS
Genre: Documentary
Developed by Mitchell Block
Directed by Maro Chermayeff
Country of origin: United States
Language: English
Episodes: 10
Production
Executive Producers:
Mel Gibson, Bruce Davey, Nancy Cotton, Mitchell Block, Maro Chermayeff
Producers:
Deborah Dickson and Jeff Dupre
Running time:
10 hours, 1 hour each episode
Broadcast
Original channel PBS
Picture format 480i (SDTV letterboxed),
1080i (HDTV)
Original run April 27, 2008 – May 1, 2008
IMAGE CREDIT: This image is a work of a sailor or employee of the U.S. Navy, taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
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