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it's a long road to paradise and, oh, I feel the pain ohh...
They tell me things are different now but I still hurt the same
haze gray and underway a world away from you
and miles and miles of blue
Daddy's on that boat.
He's not in the boat.
He is on the boat.
He's not on the boat.
He is.
You all right? Yeah.
All right. Don't forget to email me, OK?
You take care of my boy. Oh, we will!
Thanks...Very much.
Really not as many people as I thought there'd be.
No, sir.
That said, for families, it's hard. And we go away, the crew
goes away for fairly long periods of time, and they leave
loved ones, families, kids at home, and that takes some
adjusting, but that part of it doesn't get any easier.
Liberty has expired for all hands! You need to be on board at this time!
I love you!
We're ready to go!
All right.
Ready to do our country's business.
That's right!
When there's nowhere else to run is there room for one more son?
"Nimitz" a-ten-hut!
One more son
if you can hold on, if you can hold on,
hold on
Course to sail, course 2883. Check a course: 265 degrees, sir.
To the class of '96 of the Romanian Naval Academy
I want to stand up I want to let go you know, you know
no, you don't, you don't I want to shine on in the hearts of men
I want a meaning from the back of my broken hand
another head aches another heart breaks I'm so much older
than I can take and my affection well, it comes and goes
I need direction to perfection no, no, no, no help me out...
It's just paradise out here.
This is the most expensive waterfront property in the entire world.
It just becomes like a small town. It just happens to be
floating on the water. It happens to be, you know,
1,092 feet long and headed towards the Persian Gulf.
The whole ship blows my mind.
It's so big. Every day, I'm finding... because I'm lost... I'm
finding a new department or a new little shop that I didn't know we had.
The first month is just trying to figure out, where's my
rack, where I'm supposed to go, what's supposed to happen on a
daily basis.
This is an extraordinary environment. We live beneath
the runway of a major airport.
We live on top of an ammo dump that has enough ammunition to do
a significant amount of damage.
I never did that in my civilian ministry. My biggest risk in my
civilian ministry was falling out of my swivel chair at my desk.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Gonna bring yourself down...
I have to do deal with 5,200 different personalities each day.
Why should you be in the [Beep] air conditioning?
Man, get your [Beep] out there.
Probably the closest thing that a person who is not in
prison will ever get to being in prison.
Exciting, fast-paced, fast-moving, and stressful.
I got soul but I'm not a soldier...
The whole ship exists so that I can go off the end and go fly.
I got soul but I'm not a soldier... All of the departments are
vital to make a jet fly off the carrier and put a piece of
precision ordnance onto a target, as per national tasking.
Without one department... without religious ministries, without
the legal department, without reactor department, without
supply department, without hot water/cold water, and steam for
the catapults, none of it works.
Yeah, you know you got to help me out yeah, don't you put me
on the backburner... if you ain't ordnance... you ain't [Beep]!
Go get 'em!
Yeah, you're gonna bring yourself down...
You have some of the best of the best and the worst of the
worst. You meet 'em all! And some of 'em become your best
friends and some of 'em become your worst enemies.
It'll be long, it'll be hot, and it'll be hard. There will
most assuredly be stories to tell.
All right, that's it.
"Nimitz" on 3. 1, 2, 3.
"Nimitz!"
"Nimitz" stands for "never "imagined myself in this zoo."
Last call for sin while everyone's lost the battle is won
with all these things that I done
"Nimitz" CPOs, attention on deck!
Carry on, please. Seats.
First of all, I want to say welcome aboard, back to the
airwing. It's great to have the mess back together; It's great
to be going West.
There are lots of strong emotions out there throughout
the world about the United States and about
Americans and about the things we're doing and what we believe
in and... and how we do them. We want our friends to think we're
their best friends. We want our enemies to believe that we're
their worst nightmare. But to do that, we have to set the
right tone, and we have to set it every time. And I need your
buy-in and your talent on this issue to make this work. Ok?
It's like anything else we do in the Navy. It's the chiefs' mess
that's gonna get it done. So, thanks again for everything so
far. We're off on a great deployment. And we'll sure see
you about the ship.
Chiefs... they're the backbone of the Navy. We're middle
management. We get things done.
The officers' jobs are essentially to think great
thoughts and then to say, "this is what I want done," and then
to tell the chiefs, and they're the ones that actually go and get it done.
You know, they've been in the military for so long that
they're very stern about things.
They're very, "let's get it done," Yankee Doodle dandy,
stuff like that. I can make them laugh and stuff
like that, but it's hard. It's a challenge to make a chief laugh.
We are dead serious. If I tell you a puppy dog gonna pull
a freight train, don't ask how, just hook him up! Ok? It's going
down. And the example that you set in the CPO mess, we don't
have to do a whole lot of talking on the deck plate
because they will see your action. It's all I'm saying. I'm
gonna end on that note right there. All right? Thank you for
attending. Happy deployment!
There's nothing new under the sundown but not to worry
'cause we'll make it somehow 'cause it's never enough
it's never enough rushing in running out...
Roll out in the morning, first thing I do is, boom! Right
there: The sailor's creed. Gets you charged up.
I got it. I'm gone.
My name is command master chief, aviation warfare,
surface warfare, Christopher Lawrence Penton.
2,900 enlisted sailors on board, and I'm the senior enlisted.
From Bogalusa, Louisiana.
I never ever thought brushing my teeth would be newsworthy.
We only have 12 aircraft carriers in the United States
Navy. We only have 10 nuclear aircraft carriers, not in the
United States Navy, but in the entire world. And to be the
command master chief of one of the... of one of 10 is the ultimate.
To quote Mr. Rogers... but I'm not
putting my slippers on, I put my shoes on... it's a beautiful day
in the neighborhood.
It takes a positive person to become a master chief.
Maybe I'll put a sweater on.
Now, we talking about a command master chief, then you have to
have... then that's a whole different layer. So you got to
have the passion, you got to have the heart, and you got to
have the mindset. But above all, you got to have the energy.
Hey, what you guys doing?
Getting ready to, uh... No, no, no, no! Cleaning
stations. You're not in your rack at 8:00. Now let's get
busy. Let's get busy!
The command master chief... I think his name is Christopher L.
Penton... he's the senior most master chief.
He's gonna love seeing my hair like this.
The CMC is intimidating and scary, and I don't like talking
to him unless I have to.
Ha ha ha!
What are you doing, shipmate? Are you cleaning or what?
Or walking around with a cup of coffee? Which one are you doing?
Investigating the berthing, master chief, making sure
everything is going well.
Well, you can't investigate with an open container, there,
shipmate. Yes, master chief.
Master chief's something pretty unique. I mean, this is someone
who has given 20 years to the Navy, but more than that, has
given 20 hard-charging years.
Hey, shipmate, where all this... Where all this stuff come from?
You don't make 8 promotion cycles, which is what it takes
to go from e-1 to e-9, without pretty much waking up every day
and saying, "I'm going to go out "and kick a little ass."
Admiral Nimitz standing up there with the gun in his hand,
can you see him?
They came here, but they just popped positive for drugs.
Admiral Nimitz just pulled the trigger on them. Boom!
Or, you young people: Boom!
You know, sometimes, as officers, we want to give a
little room for error. It isn't that way with him. This is what
he thinks. He's direct, he's blunt.
All right, there, shipmate, let's talk about some of the
personal things that may derail your career. If you go out here
and you don't practice safe sex, it's 3 things that's gonna
happen. What are they?
There's diseases... there's diseases.
Pregnancies... pregnancy, and then you can
get the big one, you can get the death sentence, which is what?
Rape?
HIV. Come on, now, follow the lead, I mean, follow the script.
Yeah.
The majority of the young people that join the Navy today,
they join for structure, they join for discipline, and they
join for... to have responsibilities. And I'm gonna
make sure that you get a heavy dosage of all of that every day.
Before the Navy, my life was a storm. I was going nowhere
fast, pretty much.
I joined the Navy to get out of my hometown in Texas.
If I hadn't, I probably would be dead or in jail or something.
I joined the Navy so I could just become a man and grow up
because where I grew up at, I was going nowhere.
My dad had always said, you know, "you need to do something,
you've been out of High School a year."
I went home, went on the Navy website, filled out a couple of
surveys on it, and then, basically, took my ass to the recruiter.
Is it hot up there today?
My parents, they didn't even know I did it.
I was being sarcastic, actually.
I came in one night, and I said, "well, I went and talked"
to the recruiter today.
"I'm leaving in two months."
I'm airman Christopher Altice.
I'm e-3, and I'm from Manassas, Virginia. I'm 21 years old.
See you up there.
What do I have to do today?
Stand here and fry and arm up jets when they take
off, and then de-arm them when they're recovering.
That's... that's what I do all day.
I wanted to go to college. All my friends off and went to
college, and mainly, it was the money, you know.
Middle class, we'd... I had a little brother and sister.
My parents pretty much told me, "look. You're gonna have to"
either get a scholarship or, you know... " And that's when the
military came into question... Look, they'll pay for your
school, you know.
The marines and army, I threw out right away. I'm not that
kind of person, you know, with a gun and going out on the field
and, you know, whatever.
I heard all the stories, you know, about pulling into port.
Mainly, it was the travel, the Navy for the travel, because I
knew boats hit ports.
I'd much rather be at a college right now in some fraternity,
just...Partying it up.
And it's the other way around, you know. I'm already 3 years
into it, and I've been all around the world. It seems that
I've grown up a lot, but, I mean, I still feel...
I still feel like a kid inside, you know.
When you think about how many people... over 5,000 people...
Making a ship work... all I am is one pilot flying a
single-seat jet. I go up there, my jet's ready, I get it, and I fly away.
Think about the guys that are... That are making it fly. It's
unbelievable, the amount of knowledge that an 18-year-old
seaman can perform at this level of heat, of stress, first time
away from home.
It's... the respect I have for them is unbelievable.
I don't know what McDonald's pays per hour, but let's say
it's 7 bucks an hour, 6 bucks an hour. We're paying a
lot less than that when we're at sea because if you figure these
kids are working 16-, 18-hour days, not least of which they're
committed to staying on board the other 8 unless they're a
great swimmer, we're paying, you know, not $7.00 an hour.
I don't think too many of these kids came out of Phillips Exeter
Academy and said, "hey, I think I'm going to go join the Navy
for an enlistment for 4 to 6 years. " So they're not
rich kids. I mean, they're middle class and lower middle
class and, uh... and poor.
If you want to win something set your sights higher
and you might get a little more at least something better than
the little stuff you had before no need to cry
and walk away in disgrace 'cause you got to be tough
if you're to get first place since only the best
can ever take that space so suck up the pain
and put on your game face... The High School aspect out
here is strong. You got to figure most of the people out
here are 18, 19, 20 years old.
So suck up the pain and put on your game face put on the floor
that you don't want to go home it just takes a little bit...
Drama. This boat is drama.
Always something.
Basically what it is, is a big-ass floating High School.
You know, there's the gossip in the hallways... you know, so
and so hooked up with so and so.
And they're going to be doing this and that, and you know,
you've still got the testing going on.
And one last question:
Who's the secretary of defense?
Secretary of defense... Is...
Connalingus Rice?
And we get treated like children.
Shower, shower, shower.
Brush your teeth. Do what you got to do. Don't be nasty.
All right?
It's not that hard. Your mom's not here to clean up after
you, and no one else is gonna clean... clean up after you, so
clean up after yourself, have your stuff nicely stowed away.
One stuffed animal. Only one.
I'm going to allow one out, and that's it.
It is a big High School. It's High School drama. People
complain about the littlest things.
It's a simple noise factor.
This morning, I heard it a lot from the... who was getting up
this morning by our... where the... the thing where the lock is.
It was like, clank, clank, clank. Jesus!
I mean, just hold it and put it down, you know what I mean,
because they slam so much.
Ok, well, um, that might have been me, but it's, like, a
prob... it's a problem with my rack, and I'm gonna close my
rack, but it shouldn't be like, you know, you're such a light
sleeper or whatever. I have a problem with my rack, and if it's
a problem, just come out and say something, you know.
No, I'm just saying.
No, I'm just saying. I mean, it's not going to be totally
quiet in here, you know? I'll try, but... ladies, is that it?
I guess that's it. So, everybody, I guess, go back to
work, go back to skating off, go back to back to doing what you got to do.
All right, good night.
This first berthing meeting, I don't know what to say. I got
to get used to the new berthing or whatever. There's new rules.
It's kind of tough, but I got to get over it.
You... you got to do what you got to do because they're not
concerned... I am airman Shaneka McReed.
I've been in the Navy 3 years now, and this is my second
deployment on the USS "Nimitz. "
206. 110.
I work in primary flight control. It's kind of like an
air traffic controller. You're keeping track of the aircraft
that leave off deck and come on deck.
Stand by.
304 on deck.
You got chalk still in there.
You still got chalk. He said he's good to go.
Nada. No chance.
No chance, paddles, no chance.
Two hornets upwind.
Primary flight control... it's a privilege. And working up with
the air boss and the mini boss, it's a big thing around here.
What's the matter? Two hornets upwind.
People ran after the two... This is gonna-I'm gonna go
break somebody's... 102. Hornet upwind.
Growing up in Athens, Georgia, I didn't really think there was a
lot of opportunities. My parents were into drugs. My dad
was, like, a pimp or something;
and my mother, she was... She had become a prostitute.
And my family, everybody was young when they started to have
kids. And I was 16, and I got past that point, I didn't have
any kids. So I got to 18, and things started getting hard
for me, and I was just like, "I don't want to fall. I've come
"this far. I don't want to fall."
Shine them up, the golden ring.
Thanks.
Well, I'm about to go on a ledge.
My grandma played a very big role in my life. I pray to her
every night. I say, "god, just "tell my grandmother I said hi."
And she made the comment, "I "think you should join the Navy."
And I was thinking the same thing because I wanted to get
money for school.
This deployment, from my understanding, is we're
relieving the USS "Carl Vinson,"
and we're in operation Iraqi freedom. That's all I know.
I just know I'm going to the Persian Gulf.
The "Nimitz"-class aircraft carrier is the most powerful
weapon ever designed.
With our 60 to 70 strike aircraft, those aircraft would
go out, apply their 500-, 1,000-, or 2,000-pound bombs,
recover, reload, refuel, relaunch, and go do it again and
again and again, and there's nothing like it.
The aircraft carrier's plan is to head West. It's either
gonna go to the Persian Gulf, it's gonna go to the Korean
area, or it's going to go to the Taiwan/Chinese area for
national command execution of whatever. Right now, I think the
plan is to continue to head West to go towards the Persian Gulf.
Everybody thinks about Iraq;
everybody thinks that's where we're headed. But I wouldn't be
surprised if that's not where we end up.
You never know what could happen in the world.
We are kind of just forward deployed, so we're at the whim
of the CNO and the president.
USS "Nimitz" and aircraft carriers in general are very
definitely instruments of national diplomacy. Where we go
is determined, in many cases, at very high levels of our
government. It's almost like a bumper sticker, that anytime
there's a national crisis, the president comes into the war
room and says, "where are the "aircraft carriers?"
Hey, nav. All good water to starboard, right?
My name is Ted Branch. I'm the Captain of the "Nimitz."
I grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, close to the ocean.
I'd go down and watch the ocean a lot, and you'd see ships come
and go, and you'd think about what they were going to do and
where they were gonna go.
Nah, this guy's not one for 5. I'm looking at that.
My dad was in the Navy reserve, and when I was in the seventh
grade, the whole family went to Annapolis during his training
duty. And that summer before my seventh-grade year, I thought it
was the neatest thing since sliced bread.
What speed do you have for the outbound merchant in front of us?
There's something mystical about the sea and about travel and the
Navy. To me, it's always been that spirit of adventure and
what's over the horizon.
Occasionally, we'll take off for the other side of the world, and
we won't know exactly what we're going to encounter. So some of
that adventure is still out there.
Matt, let's go ahead and go to 15 knots.
All ahead standard indicate 075 rpm.
All ahead standard indicate 075 rpmi.
My job is to make sure the ship is ready materially and the
crew is ready physically and mentally.
It's the best job in the Navy.
And I am responsible for... uh...Everything.
On 3. 1, 2, 3.
We didn't sell these in the ship's store.
Really, when we're together as this city at sea, this 5,000
folks at sea, I'd guess you'd call me the mayor. A ship's a
ship, and this is a fine ship, a great one; But the heart and
the soul is not the steel, it's the crew.
Good morning on "Nimitz."
This is the XO. It's time for cleaning stations. Let's all
hands get out and about, and clean up the ship. Get the, uh,
music on, the tvs on. All the messing facilities and gym
equipment will be closed.
Cleaning stations, everybody's favorite time of the day.
That is all.
All right, guys, let's go.
Cleaning stations.
Just another day... cleaning stations is
basically just when you clean the ship. You sweep, and you
polish the same spot over and over again.
And, you know, the XO gets on, and he's like, "let's get the
radios on, the tvs going.
"It's cleaning stations."
And he gets all excited about it. I don't know why.
Even if something's totally clear and polished, you can see
yourself in it and the future, they make you polish it over
again. You just have to keep sitting there and rubbing and
rubbing and rubbing.
Believe it or not, cleaning stations are what makes us a
good warrior. It's good for morale, and that morale
leads to us being ready to go and fight a war. So, with that,
let's get ready to go to battle in Iraq and kill some
terrorists, all right?
My name's Christian Garzone.
I'm from upstate New York.
The real New York: Upstate.
That's the "U" sign.
I'm an undesignated airman, meaning that I was just kind of
brought here and thrown wherever they wanted me.
I was probably the least likely person to join the military out
of all my friends. When I first told them that, they're like,
"oooph. " They couldn't believe it.
I come from a middle-class family. We had two cars, a
garage. I went to school in London. I try to read, like, a
book a month, sometimes two if I can.
Uh, how's the coffee doing?
I don't know. Check it.
The election of George W. Bush
was something, uh, of course, I took part in. I am a
republican, so I voted for George Bush.
You want me to get more food?
You just spent... where'd the chief go?
He went topside.
Murphy, you just spent $16 at the store.
You know, at the time, the war on terrorism was going on,
and everyone felt an increased sense of patriotism, I guess.
You need anything, sir?
Coffee or anything?
You need any coffee or anything, sir?
No, I'm good.
All right. That's good.
Check it out.
And, you know, you get that feeling, and you're just like,
"I should do something. " And, you know, it's going to benefit
me in the future, it's going to look good on a job resume, and I
just... I went ahead and I enlisted.
Just accelerating my life.
Yeah, what's up?
Honestly, I don't really think of it as being the military,
because, I just look at it as a normal job, really. I go to
work, you know, I have a nice place up forward on the ship,
like a shelf in the wall.
This is...Where I sleep at. And, you know, these racks are very
convenient, uh, for the military.
After a while, you get used to this. Most people aren't this
good first time around, but... Anyway, you can pretty much stay
in one position all night and be pretty comfortable.
The military men are very about being here and loving every second of it.
I do like it, but I don't love it. I don't wake up every day
and say, you know, bark like a dog, go woof woof, and jump out
of bed, you know, put my dog tags on and, you know, go run
two miles. Some people like that. I don't.
We rolling?
Yes.
All right, Christian Garzone here. We're actually live in a
bathroom, or as the Navy likes to call it, it's called a "head."
I take my camera around once in a while, and I do interviews
with people to see, you know, what the real Navy life is like.
Excuse me. Sir?
Hello. How are you? You got quick time for an interview?
What's going on?
Hey, open up real quick.
It'll just take a second of your time.
What's going on?
Um...
Painters paint, writers write. I just...I film.
This ship is a floating piece of America. We have all the fine
delicacies in terms of candy from back home.
Richie, what are your goals for the future?
What are my goals?!
Yeah.
So what do you guys think of the ship?
The ship?
The ship life is kind of harsh, man, because...
Well, the food's... The food's awesome here.
No.
People are so lame, dude.
Ugh.
This meat might still have a pulse.
Give me that home cooking keep me warm at night...
All right, killer, you're up.
Give me two more!
Ahh, Ahh how are you doing?
All righty.
What's on the agenda for tomorrow? You got any plans?
Tomorrow? No. Just wake up and do the same thing as I did today.
Every time the alarm goes off, I say, "[Beep], I woke up."
Get those, uh... I can't even lift that.
Could you pick it up?
Thanks.
My name is Cindi Costa. I'm from Sacramento, California. I'm a
seaman recruit, e-1. I'm a cs, culinary specialist.
Excuse me?
More rice?
It sucks being a cs. You have to feed 5,000 people.
Hold on. Ah!
People don't appreciate you, and they just take more than
they can eat, and you end up working harder. The recruiter
asked me what I wanted to do with my life, and I told him I
wanted to be a chef. And he told me he used to be a chef, and
that the Navy has a good culinary program. Today I made
25 boxes of chicken Wellington, 10 or so boxes of pork chops.
It's a trial. It's a lot of hard work.
Long, long hours.
No, scrub it clean. Get it out. You're not leaving until you're done.
And your supervisors treat you like crap sometimes.
Go ahead and drain it, fill it up, everything.
Seaman apprentice Costa has potential to be a really good
worker. She needs a lot of work, a lot of self-discipline. Seems
like she wants to... scam around things, her responsibility.
And I'm not trying to sound sexist or anything, but, yeah,
girls are lesser than everything else, and, yeah, pretty much
they can... "I can't, I can't lift it. " No. Tough [Beep], shipmate.
Yeah.
I'm trying to train you actually to be a good worker.
Ok.
A good worker, not a skater, not a smoker.
All I have to do is put the cheese in, and I'm out.
You just said potato!
No! I said the rest. Hey!
I have a steady job, and I'm 19 years old. And most
19-year-olds are working at McDonald's. But some
things, I'm not... like, I do get sad sometimes, depressed, you
know. I don't want to be a quitter, but I really would rather be home.
Hot.
Aw, still a little bloody inside. That's all I want to see.
The minute you get on this boat, your life stops and you're
out here to do one thing and one thing only, and that's work and
eat and sleep. You go back 6 months later, everyone else is 6
months ahead of you.
Going away for 6 months and being in a relationship, you
know, it's... it's hard.
I've never really had a steady girlfriend. And I've always
liked girls that ended with, like, "e," like Jamie or Katie
or Britney. For some reason, I don't know. Tanya's not one of
them. Heh heh!
She's an "a." Tanya.
I'm a drive-through junkie. So every night after work, I used
to just go through the drive-through. You know, I had
McDonald's, Taco Bell, or Jack n' the Box.
So, I'm going through the drive-through one night, and
there's this girl working there, and one of my buddies worked
there, too. So I was like, "yo ," I'm like, "what's up with
her? You know, how old is she?
"What's her name?"
He tells me, "Tanya."
This is Tanya.
That's her sister.
So every night after work, I used to just go through the
drive-through. One night, she asked me if I needed anything
else as she was handing me my bag. She's like, "ketchup?" And
I was like, "yeah," and then I was like, "how about your
number? " Just something cheesy like that.
She wouldn't give it to me. She just smiled, and she didn't give it to me.
Probably about a month of coercing her, she finally gave
in, I guess to his wit, or maybe his charm or looks, I don't know.
That's cute.
That was it. We started seeing each other. I was so surprised.
I was like, wow, this girl actually likes me. Cool.
Hello?
Hey, what are you doing?
Laying down.
Laying down?
It all led up to this one night where she came in the
bedroom and I was sitting there.
She had some snacks in a ziploc bag. And I made some kind of
joke. I was like, "you look like a pregnant girl, eating snacks
like that as late at night out "of a bag, carrying it around,"
or something like that.
And she just started blushing, and then immediately, I knew.
So is the baby still doing jumping Jacks?
It hurts. Like, ow, she's doing, like, sticking her arm out or something.
It was mostly like, "OK, well, you're pregnant." Things
happen for a reason.
We're not going to take the easy way out and just getting rid of
it. Uh, that doesn't fly well with me at all.
Bye.
We're gonna head up there.
Wait and see, I'm young I grow each day, I've got busy bones
oh, I feel this poor angel inside me I cannot hold you
with myself in there I am not afraid if she's a Jedi, too
oh, I don't believe in anything
What's been going on up there in Washington?
A lot of work.
Huh?
A lot of work.
We have 3 no-fly days coming.
Hey! What you got going on there that you got to keep your
hat on all the way up there till you sat down in the chair there?
Hey, Billy Dee, it'll be like... It seem like it ain't quite get
the chemicals. They, uh, they deactivated.
No, it's all natural.
Oh, God, you should have had a hair cut a long time ago.
Yeah, I don't know how you thought that was going to fly on
a 6-month deployment. That's all right. We'll hook you up.
We'll... we'll put you back in the game again.
I got to come up here every week and get a... and get a haircut.
Oh, man overboard.
On board "Nimitz," this is the XO. We have a report of a
chemlight in the water. We need all hands to, uh, to go to
muster. All hands to muster, please. Get the lights on in the
berthing areas. Get your shipmates out of their racks.
All hands swiftly and safely to muster.
That's good. Thank you.
Hello, "Nimitz." This is the Captain. We got a chemlight in
the wake. So everybody get to their man overboard muster
stations on the double.
Do we know for sure there are people in the water, or is it
just the lights?
Oh, I don't know for sure if there's people in the water or
not. Could be... could be lights, no one knows. We just all have
to wait. We just got to get here and man up station.
Wills, Fargus, Weston.
Macintosh, Tyrone.
This time of night, it's not a drill. It's the real...
It's some kind of indication that something's not right.
All the personnel on the flight deck and the sponsors
wear chemlights at night, so when you see a chemlight in the
water, there's a possibility that somebody fell overboard.
The following departments report to deck house 3 at tack
1, tack 180, tack Quebec.
Admin, air, engineering... Nighttime is when we have the
most man-overboards.
We're talking about falling 90 feet. It may knock the wind
out of you. It may even knock you out.
Anyone seen Stewart, Monson, or Bastabul?
All officers good.
Here's the bridge... Smith is... I think Smith is on watch.
This is the main hub. The executive officer runs his
evolution down here, and we plot every department. We've got so
many departments on board, we've got so many
squadrons, and once we figure out if we have everybody on
board, then we secure from the drill. If not, we start
launching helicopters and lifeboats.
Plus 7.
Call the bridge now.
Call the names.
We got 3 names.
The following personnel report to deck house 3 tack 1
tack 108 tack 1 tack Quebec with their I. D. Cards: From group 11,
lieutenant David Archer and lieutenant Michael Gillio.
Proceed, airman Jason Wright.
The following personnel to deck house 3 tack 1
tack 108 tack 1 tack Quebec with their I. D. Cards: From group 11,
lieutenant Michael Gillio.
Ah, yeah, we got him.
They just identified the last guy. So... so, what the XO gonna
do is, he gonna bring the guy down here and find out what the
reason, where were you? Why didn't you hear the word? Why
didn't you muster? And it's not going to be pretty. So I don't
know if we can even go live.
Are we secure yet?
It's been plenty long enough for him to get down here.
It's been plenty... I can get anywhere on this ship in about
2 and a 1/2 minutes.
Chuck, do we know where he is?
Yes, sir.
Well, he needs to be here!
Yes, sir.
Ok, I am wasting my time.
I've had it!
Stand by for a word from the commanding officer.
"Nimitz," airwing 11.
All right, this is the deal.
There are two possible situations that just could have
happened. One is, a chemlight accidentally got
in the water. One is, some son of a bitch threw a
chemlight in the water. Now, if somebody accidentally throws a
chemlight in the water, call the bridge. No harm, no foul. We
won't call "man overboard."
Innocent mistakes don't get punished. When we find somebody
that's throwing these things in
the water maliciously... and we're gonna find them, because
somebody in this great crew is going to see it happen and is
going to sit on them... I'm going
to hang your ass out to dry, and you're gonna regret the day you
were born. So just keep it up, pal, and we'll see what happens
from there. That is all.
It's a war-fighting culture.
We have to be able to depend on each other, at all times, to
follow the rules.
You're not going to get away with a whole lot in the Navy,
not nearly as much you would in the civilian world.
When you do something very small, you're in trouble, big.
Do address these people by "sir," "chief," whoever
addresses you. If you do not address them by their rank, I
give you one warning. After that one warning, I will put you in
handcuffs. I can do it one of two ways. I can slam you to the
deck, or I can do it nicely. Do you understand?
Forward, march.
One step back. March.
Uncover.
Two!
You get caught possession of alcohol?
Yes, master chief.
Excuse me?
Yes, master chief.
Ok.
You either drink a hell of a lot, or you get caught a lot.
Which is it?
I get caught a lot, master chief.
That's what I would say. But, uh, these laws are not so you
can just stand in front of me.
It's so we can make it painful enough so you don't do
it twice. We're gonna do that.
I mean, it's gonna be... it's gonna be rough. You're going to
be looking at water for a very, very long time.
Ok, airman, here at this time, uh, the intent here is to
protect yourself, and I want to protect my shipmates. So, I want
you to be on this ship 45 days.
I want you to have extra duty for 45 days. That's what we
recommend. I'm gonna have the XO, we're going to talk to him,
and we'll see what goes from there.
You understand that?
Yes, master chief.
Cover. Two!
One step forward, march.
Ok. You've done something wrong, there is a cost to you
for disobeying the rules. But you're not a bad person. You're
not a bad sailor. We still want you in the company.
It's a big deal, but, I mean, I did it, so I have to deal with
it. That's the only way to look at it. Maybe I'll learn
something out of it.
I've lived in the same town my whole life. Uh, there's only,
like, 3,000 people in it. I lived with my dad after I
graduated High School. I left for the Navy a month later.
Hello.
Daddy, are you sleeping?
What's the matter?
I got 45 days restriction, 45 days extra duty.
They're taking half my pay for two months. But
they didn't knock me down. They didn't take no stripes.
Well, that's better than it could have been, Bobbie.
I know. Like. They gave me a suspended bust, which is like,
if I get in trouble... yeah.
Then they're gonna knock me down.
Well, that's cool... yes. So I just have to stay
on the boat. I get off restriction June 30. So I have
to stay on the boat till June 30.
Oh, yeah?
I got to muster... when we're in port, I have to muster at
5:30. I have to muster at 5:30 in the morning, and
I have to muster at 4:00, 6:00, and 9:30... at night.
Well... and then, when we're out to sea, I have to muster at 7:00.
And I have to do two hours extra duty.
And I have to go to A.A. Classes.
Well, you've been restricted.
All right. I love you. It'll be OK. You'll get through it.
But I love you.
All right, I love you, daddy.
I love you, too, baby girl.
All right.
Bye-bye, honey.
Bye.
I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I love my job. I
love the people I work with.
Two years ago, people were like, "you're gonna have a job that"
you push missiles around, and you build bombs, and you do
all this stuff that is so "dangerous."
You get used to it.
You're like, "yeah, this is my job, this is what I support,
this is what I chose to do for my country. " And, like, it's
not... it's not a big deal.
I don't push the button to drop the missile. I just set it up,
and what my country decides to do with it is... is what I'm here for.
I'm also at the bottom of the food chain on the boat, and you
don't know what the mission's gonna be. But I still do it
because that's what I'm told to do.
When we had our on-load, we had an on-load of ordnance, and
it lasts, like, 3 days.
We were getting bombs from Iraqi freedom.
And, you know, some writing was still on the bombs, like, "take
this, Saddam! " Or "this is for "my brother."
Wow. I just... I would stare at these bombs just coming in,
looking at the writing that they had on them. Like, "oh, my
God, this... you know, people actually thought this was gonna
drop, and they're probably hoping it did, and it's here on
"our... on our boat."
And I'm just like, "wow.
This... this could have killed "somebody."
It's a weird feeling.
It would be hard to not be patriotic and be in this job,
because you do the president's bidding and the country's
bidding. And so, if you don't believe in what you're doing, I
think it probably makes it pretty hard.
I think all of us have different opinions. I think not
a lot of us discuss it. I'm trying to think, are we doing
the right thing, or are we doing the wrong thing? That's a
personal struggle that I think anybody that does this... anybody
that's over there pulling the trigger or doing that has to ask
themselves that question at some point.
Even though I'm not physically pushing the button
and dropping the bombs, I am part of this circle. I was naive
when I first joined. I never thought we'd go to war.
Sometimes I wish I would have joined the peace corps.
Personally, I don't even get the war. Ok, the twin towers.
I guess, if we're fighting back for that reason,
yeah, I get it. But I don't get why we're fighting for somebody
else's freedom when we barely have our own.
Basically, we just fighting over control of oil.
I believe in our country, and I believe in our ideals, and I
believe that infringements on that need to be, you know,
thwarted, and if force is necessary, then I'm willing to
be a part of that.
Hell, yeah! Get some, baby!
What's going on, sir?
You're gonna show me how to do this.
Pure and simple.
Ok.
When you hear the ammo and all, I want you to take the
safety off safe. Fire until you pretty much don't want to fire anymore.
All righty.
All right. Just make sure they're not over 8 rounds at a time.
Ok.
Safety off safe.
Safety is where?
Right by your thumb, sir.
Got it.
Get some!
Well, you already messed up.
You let me play.
That car... you cannot possibly put a baby in that car.
That's what I'm saying.
I need to get it fixed.
No, I mean you couldn't put the baby in even if it was fixed.
Why not?
It's a two-seater.
No, it's got seats in the back.
Yeah, I know.
It only got two doors.
Chief knows Tanya's pregnant.
Gunner knew. The whole shop knew. This whole time, I'm
trying to figure out how to tell her dad. And I was afraid that
it would get to him before I told him.
From what I heard, Tanya's father is an ex-gunner.
Yeah, he was a retired, you know, gunner. He retired
lieutenant commander, and... So he knew everyone on the base.
From our gunner, from my gunner, if he's the same way,
because most all gunners are all the same... He better not [Beep] up.
And it just came that one day where I was sick of going to bed
every night, you know, wondering if I was gonna tell him, you
know, tomorrow, you know what mean?
You told him, or she did?
I told him.
I pulled him aside.
He was walking through the kitchen, and Tanya was sitting
on the counter in the kitchen eating, and she just
looked at me. And we just came from dinner, and I looked at
her, and I was like, "I got to do this right now." And she was
just like... and I just followed her dad down
the hallway, and I went up to him, and I was like, "sir," you
know, "can I have a word with you for a minute?" And he was
like, "sure, you want to go... "
And I was like, "in the garage is fine," because it was
right behind him. So we stepped out in the garage. I shut the
door behind me, and, uh, he was like, he said, "what's going "on?"
I was like, "well, sir, you know, I've known about this for
a while, and I was really just trying to find the best time to
tell you this, and I realize "there's not gonna be one."
Ha ha ha!
And I was like, "so here it is. " I said, "Tanya's pregnant."
What'd he say?
Just complete silence, man, complete silence, man. And my
stomach... I stopped breathing, man. I was just like...
It was so quiet, I didn't even want to breathe, man. It was
just like waiting to see what he was gonna do or say.
He kind of... kind of took a look up, he looked down, and he took
a deep breath. He didn't look at me. And he said, "I wish you
guys, you know, would have been smarter. " He said, "how long
have you known about this? " And I said, "sir, I've known about
"it for a couple weeks now."
And he said, "so, you know, what's your plan?" And I said,
"I don't know, sir. I..."
I got to go on cruise. I got a "deployment coming up."
He doesn't look like the father type, but... he's like a
party guy. But maybe, hopefully, this will make him grow up more, I guess.
Like, I think he's in for quite a wakeup when this baby
comes, because I don't think he realizes right now what it's...
You know, what it's gonna do to his life.
All right, dude. Good night.
Where are you guys gonna go?
Stand by for a word from the commanding officer.
Good afternoon, "Nimitz" and airwing 11. Ok, tomorrow
morning, we'll be entering port at Pearl Harbor, and there's
lots of history there. It promises to be a great evolution
and a really... a really great event for all hands.
If I were one of you guys... Especially if this is my first
liberty port... I would plan to be back to the ship an hour
before I'm supposed to be back.
I want to hear from every one of you that
you promise that you're gonna keep clean, not get
drunk... overly drunk... come back to the ship, and get in trouble.
I want to hear that:
"I promise."
I promise.
If you ain't ordnance... You ain't [Beep]!
I just worry. It's the longest I've ever had to be away
from anyone. I mean, I'm out here for 6 months. Trust,
you know, is a big issue now.
Got a package full of wishes... I think if we can overcome
this with no secrets, it'll work out.
A globe made out of gold... We are paying our honors to
over a thousand people that are entombed in the USS "Arizona."
December, 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. You got it?
Printed on the box, I see "acme's build-a world-to-be"
take a chance grab a piece help me to believe it
what kind of world do you want?
Think anything let's start at the start build a masterpiece
be careful what you wish for history starts now
should there be people or peoples?
Money, funny pedestals for fools who never pay raise your army
choose your steeple don't be shy the satellites
can look the other way...
It looks very, very good. Very impressive. Dynamite job.
Fill the oceans without the salt let every man own his own hand
can you dig it, baby?
What kind of world do you want?
Think anything
let's start at the start build a masterpiece, yeah...
Be careful what you wish for
start now.
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