by Miss Mars

Created on: August 04, 2008

Being a Sailor aboard an aircraft carrier is an adventure. Not the kind of adventure some would think of. It is almost like living on another planet and you feel like it goes on forever and ever. Trying to imagine life before you were there is like a painful memory and it lingers there in the back of your mind as you walk through tight passageways and climb up ladderwells and try to stuff down canned vegetables and hard bread at chow time. Each day feels exactly like the last even if something strange happens like a sailor jumping overboard or a fight on the mess decks. To try to make some understand just what sort of life it is I will compare it to a plant. Take a beautiful flower and yank it out of the ground by it's roots and throw it into a steel pot with no water. Watch what happens to a plant then with no sunlight or dirt or water it is sure to shrivel up into a terrible mess.

A day on an aircraft carrier is like an eternity. Wake up in a small bunk which we call racks. Above you is two more racks if you are a lucky one and get the bottom. The top rack is the worst because you have to climb up and there is no coffin locker underneath. If you have the top you get an extra locker instead and there is barely enough room to squeeze all your things. Waking up is torture especially because there are announcements on the 1mc the whole time you are sleeping. Get ready for your 12 hour shift in a dark berthing and a nasty bathroom we call a head. Sometimes waiting for a shower is torture. Keep in mind the ship has no windows, it is just one big steel war machine that keeps going and going all day and night. going to your workspace is an ordeal and only because the lower your rank is the more you have to stand along the bulkhead to let someone walk by who is "More important". In this world it is "yes sir", "No sir", "Yes mam", "No mam". After awhile you feel like a machine and not a human...

Some days when all seems to continue as groundhog day you look for those moments that might take your breath away. Going to vultures row in the tower and watching jets take off just feet away, the sunrise on the ocean, the friends who seem to be there when you are feeling blue, the stars in the deep of the night that cover the whole sky. I remember thinking that I had never seen so many stars in my life. I like standing on the catwalk and leaning over the railing and watching the dolphins jumping out of the water. SOmetimes on those real breezy days you just want to stand and

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