What It's Really like to Be in the US Navy

First off, the economy is in the sewer at the moment. And there are few better places than the Navy to get job skills that can be used to land you a good paying job when your enlistment is up. And you even get a nice pay jump for getting married. Also, you and your family are provided with fantastic health care benefits that are second to none. But unlike the other armed services, your wife and kids can not go out to sea with you when you leave for eight month deployments at a time.

The Navy does its best to try and rotate a few years sea duty, with a few years of shore duty, but when your deployed at sea, your wife will quickly feel like a single parent till you return. And I would say that that is the hardest part of being in the navy. And even single sailors have their own set of problems concerning relationships.

A lot of women are attracted to single sailors like a bee to honey. But the reason why they are attracted is the real problem. For a woman that just wants a fling and a heck of a good time, single sailors fit their bill better than anyone. They know single sailors always want to party, and they know they never have to take them home to meet mom and dad. So, for women that have an aversion to marriage, the single sailor makes a perfect playmate. In many situations, when he returns home from sea, she's got a new playmate, and he's out in the cold and very lonely.

Because of this many single sailors develop a fear of attachment, and even after marriage cavort as if they were still single. So, the most important thing a single sailor can do is to make double sure that he is with a woman who really cares about him and will stick with him even through long deployments at sea. And if she doesn't write him at least once every two weeks when away, he should know the relationship is faltering.

But just joining the navy, doesn't mean that you are in. Before you get to go to a Navy a school, ship or base, you have got to get through Navy boot camp. The Navy will do everything they can to test your resolve. Simply put, the Navy doesn't want any mamby pambes in their ranks. As soon as you get off the train at boot camp they get you marching. They wake you up at four in the morning, march you off to chow and keep you singing and marching about the mighty, mighty Navy all day long.

And when they get tired of that, they make sure they can bounce a quarter off your bunk. And if they can't, they keep making you do push ups till you get it right. They even go so far as to instruct you on how they want you to fold your underwear. And when that bores them, they make you jump off a high diving board while holding your pants in your hand. When you hit the water you have to tie the edges of your pants together, so that you can float on your pants. And if that's not enough water fun, they make you go through a hatch with water pouring out like an oil gusher.

Being in the Navy is serious business, and they only want the very best. If you screw things up when deployed at sea, a shipmate could get killed. Everyone depends on everyone doing their job right, and there is just no place on board for screw ups. The sea can be very rough and unforgiving. But, it's a great feeling knowing that your working with the best. And you can really make some great lifetime friends in the Navy that will really be true and blue.

That said, the hardest part of being in the navy, may be their policy of having a need to know. Meaning, if you don't have a need to know, no one will tell you. Imagine your wife made a fantastic meal and you wanted to know what she did different this time to the steak, roast beef, or whatever. You wanted to tell your friends about what kind of sauce or spice she put on it, but she told you she couldn't tell you because she is the cook, and you don't have a need to know. Well, that's exactly what the Navy does. That policy has frustrated me for years.

For instance, one time I was standing outside the bridge of the ship. And suddenly I noticed green wormholes in the water. Then something dish shaped with unearthly speed came charging out of the sky and flew inside the green worm hole and into the water. When I asked the Officer in charge of the bridge what just happened he said, "That was a small plane crash."

When I asked "Why aren't we launching a rescue?"

The Officer replied "You don't want to know."

Of course, I knew it really couldn't be a small plane crash. We were a few thousand miles away from the nearest land, and no small plane would have enough gas to make it that far. So, of course, seeing something so unusual was yet so frustrating. So, from that day on, I did my own research, and made some very interesting discoveries. While everyone looks to the Air Force for info about UFO's, it's really the Navy that is tracking all the data.

Only God knows what the Navy really knows about these UFO's that can fly into the ocean depths. But at least a few things have been leaked by some Navy people in the know, but it's very little and unconclusive, and I guess I will never figure out the secret. At least not in my lifetime anyway. But, I do suspect, that if certain things come to light, there may be some technology that could make life on this planet a lot better. But, until we are judged worthy to have a need to know, I guess the Navy will continue to keep their secret discoveries to themselves.

Anyway, here is just one of the very interesting links I found on this subject. But, it's just all speculation and heresay. But at least I think that Americans should have their need to know granted someday soon. http://www.zuko.com/Inexplicable/US_Navy_USO_Encounters.asp