Comments by "Ficus-lovin\x27 Capybara N\x27 pals • 🌟 • 25 yrs ago" (@YourCapybaraAmigo_17yrsago) on "The government let me kiss nuclear waste." video.

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  8.  @sixft7in  yea lol same here. '99-'07. I probably shouldn't have extended. Was on two carriers, 65 and 76. Why they didn't turn 65 into a museum after it was decommed I'll never know. It should have been. But people do idiotic things. 65 had a stunning massive mural on the hangar deck doors in 2002-3, then some clown-ass painted over it. Made no sense. Why would you erase such good art? There were some cool seals on the deck in the engineering spaces that also got papered over at some point. Again I mean just why?? Things like that are nice to have around. Why get rid of them? I do not know. Anyhow... My time in was ok but I definitely wouldn't do it again. I can think of many better ways to spend my 20s. I appreciated seeing unique places I got to see but that alone wasn't worth all of the other mess. Had I known ahead of time I would have been going out to sea for 5 years straight very consistently for no reason at all only interrupted once by an incredibly stressful and frustrating shipyard period (in the lesser shipyard out of the two available options even at at that), I would have opted out. Just too much constant movement, interruption and being away from society. It's not worth it. You can't have a normal life. For me it just wasn't necessary. I didn't have a family to support and after a while I just didn't know I was doing it anymore. You can't really be free and you can't really have a life outside of the job so it's not really worth it. Now shore duty is a little different, but I never got a chance to know a nice shore billet. If I was in air wing it would have been different because they only come aboard for the main deployment, but being ship's company you're always there. Every single motion that ship makes you go with it. For me it's just wasn't worth it by the end. Shore billets can be rewarding but five years is too long to wait for one. I don't know how people do 20 years as enlisted. I can see why officers do it but not enlisted. Not all sea billets are hard but the nuke one is a pretty raw deal. Maybe its easier now with the newer ships.
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  16.  @kibbleofdoom  oh cool, no kidding? I didn't even consider that possibility. After nptu I never knew any sub folks. They kind of went on their way and I went on mine and I never much thought of them again, almost forget about that part of the fleet. I'd be curious about that experience.... That's a different one... Such a small crew.... Single gender..... Always underwater... Huh yeah.. that's a different one.. I guess the sub fleet is integrated now? Just curious- were you guys able to smoke while you're underway? I'm not claustrophobic but I'd be curious how I would deal with being in those spaces for an extended period of time. Id probably be ok but it would no doubt be an adjustment... I was always curious what the experience would have been like on a smaller vessel. Carriers are nice because there's a lot of open space plus weather decks. Easy to get outside if you want to, move around, see the sun etc. Plenty of unlocked voids or storage spaces to go chill in for some privacy. The planes are cool but flight ops can sometimes be loud and jarring, but after a while it all starts to blend into the background as white noise. Other than that, idk, it's ok. It's like working anywhere else except it's on a large ship. But at the same time I don't think I would have minded being on a smaller ship where there was more of a family vibe and felt a bit more laid back- I was always curious about that. I never got the feeling of community I was looking for from my divisions and that's too bad, but they were pretty dysfunctional, mostly on ship 1. Ship 2 was less so for certain reasons.
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  17.  @jerm8146  I can imagine all that! Cool reflections. I think I would appreciate the close knit aspect the most. I always wanted that and didn't much find that when I was in. Carriers and larger ships can have a lot to offer as far as size, variety, diversity, options, open space, crannies, noise, recreational choices, more people... But you don't have that socially intimate feeling usually. Sometimes you do if you have a close workcenter and enough supportive folks in your division, and/or decent people in the upper ranks, but that greatly varies. I did not that feel that from my group on ship 1 but ship 2 was somewhat different. Less stressful by leagues so that helped, and kind of nice to be on a brand new ship. Incredibly clean and fresh feeling as contrast to the very old enterprise. Do sub crews have access to radio and TV??? Do you surface regularly? Are there swim days? We swam in the gulf and lemme say that was a trip. Water was like bath water (so awesome) and the heat in the engine spaces was unbelievable. We had to wear ice vests which were incredibly relieving for about 10 minutes, then they wore off. I had it easy as an EM with AC, my mechanic friends had it much harder. Gulf heat will rapidly give you your heat wings. July and August in the gulf regions will rapidly build your heat tolerance to new levels. I've known desert heat before but this was still a serious experience. I would occasionally wake up with my eyes puffed almost shut from the stuffy air. But we managed to roll with it. Sweating was the default lol. Is there a way to smoke on subs? I love water and being underwater but a long underwater cruise would be different, but I imagine you get used to it, like most things. I probably would too I suspect.
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