So... yeah... I joined the navy.

[thepixiesrock]

Hahahaha, yeah, what the crap.

[Sand]

What? That store had gaming books, computer games, anime, comics, and tons of music for sell. It had vintage material that were in mint condition like Ultima 4 still in its shrink wrap and the Tank Girl RPG.

 

 

 

Yeah, I know.

[Gromnir]

most of Gromnir's male relatives did the military thing, and father o' Gromnir were some big cheese in navy and actually taught at annapolis for a short time. lucky/unlucky for Gromnir, we gets shin splints... Epic shin splints. what makes it really strange is that likes most native americans, Gromnir runs on balls of feet rather than heels, which should make shin splints less likely.

 

we played sports year round in high school, and pretty much all team sports (other than maybe swimming stuff) requires you to run. track, football, wrestling, whatever, they all does team runs at some point. puts a bit of a dent in esprit de corps when one guy not have to run with the team. Gromnir went to state in the 100 in track and yet he never once had to run more than an 880 in practice. coaches made an exception for Gromnir (though the stuff we typically had to do other than the distance runs were probably far worse anyways.) heck, after an injury the physical therapist had us run in a pool to reduce impact... and we still got shin splints if you can believe it. run any kinda prolonged distance and Gromnir will get shin splints... bad. short distances is good, but long...

 

coaches made an excpetion for Gromnir 'cause they liked to win meets/games/matches. the militarty ain't quite so good 'bout making exceptions.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Gorgon]

In Denmark they march every able bodied 18 year old into a series of tests and then ask then to draw a number, the lucky ones get to decide if they want service or not, the unlucky ones have to chose between military or civil defence.

 

Although only career soldiers get sent to war zones.

 

I remember being affected by the propaganda at the time, but ultimately my own lazy nature won out, and besides I got lucky in the draw.

[Walsingham]

I should say that so far as technology and training goes the USN are without doubt the best in the world by nautical miles. By which I mean no disrespect to the senior service, but simply our chaps don't have the cash.

[Gromnir]

as Gromnir mentioned, his father were somebody noteworthy in the USN. he had very little good to say 'bout the brits, but he did note that they had a good sub school, and that brit sailors were probably as good (well-trained and disciplined,) if not better than the average US counterpart... is your commanders he seemed to be dismissive 'bout.

 

'course we ain't spoken with pops more than a half-dozen times in the last 20 years, so am not sure what his current feelings is. our comments is based on stuff said by the elder Gromnir during the mid 80s. probably ain't applicable no more.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Enoch]

A few monthss ago I spent a few hours chatting with a cousin of my fiancee's who's a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. He's now on a Frigate off in the Phillipines somewhere. He showed us the photos on his computer of his ship & crew out and about in various Pacific locales (he's the ship's "photo officer"). It really looked like a fantastic experience, in terms of establishing close friendships, broadening one's horizons, and seeing parts of the world that you would not otherwise think to visit.

 

 

As for myself, though, I come from a long line of draft-dodgers. (The last ancestor of mine who did any military service at all was a Great-Grandfather. Both of my Grandfathers were too young for WW2 and had various excuses for the postwar/Korea draft.) But I'm now a civilian employee of Uncle Sam's, and a significant portion of my work stems from audits of DOD spending. So I guess I'm doing my part.

Edited April 28, 2008 by Enoch

[Walsingham]

A few monthss ago I spent a few hours chatting with a cousin of my fiancee's who's a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. He's now on a Frigate off in the Phillipines somewhere. He showed us the photos on his computer of his ship & crew out and about in various Pacific locales (he's the ship's "photo officer"). It really looked like a fantastic experience, in terms of establishing close friendships, broadening one's horizons, and seeing parts of the world that you would not otherwise think to visit.

 

 

As for myself, though, I come from a long line of draft-dodgers. (The last ancestor of mine who did any military service at all was a Great-Grandfather. Both of my Grandfathers were too young for WW2 and had various excuses for the postwar/Korea draft.) But I'm now a civilian employee of Uncle Sam's, and a significant portion of my work stems from audits of DOD spending. So I guess I'm doing my part.

 

Don't knock yourself, mate. We were discussing this the other night on training. Spending the money wisely is more than half the battle. If you do your job right you make a real difference on the front line.

[Walsingham]

Couple of interesting bits and pieces for you:

 

Our new carriers

 

Our new air defence destroyers

[Nick_i_am]

Holy poop awsome.

 

<3<3 Carriers.

[Sand]

Those are nice looking ships but what I can't wait for is the submersible carrier with fightercraft that can operate in the air and water.

 

Now that would be real innovation.

[Nick_i_am]

I'd very literally wet my pants with awsome.

 

Then, like, the submarine carrier could launch aircraft in my pants, if you know what I mean.

[Enoch]

Those are nice looking ships but what I can't wait for is the submersible carrier with fightercraft that can operate in the air and water.

 

Now that would be real innovation.

 

wiki.

[Guard Dog]

Looks line Nick will need to change his pants!

[Guard Dog]

Looks like Nick will need to change his pants!

[Nick_i_am]

You just made my day Enoch.

 

EDIT: if I was wearing any.

Edited April 29, 2008 by Nick_i_am

[Gromnir]

Couple of interesting bits and pieces for you:

 

Our new carriers

 

Our new air defence destroyers

 

 

well, aren't those cute. am recalling that there were a bit pf a stink 'bout how the designer of the new brit carrier were kinda gifted the contract, 'cause the competition were too... french? is disturbing how often politics is so important when it comes to awarding contracts for weapons.

 

am s'posing you has seen the Gerald Ford class carrier? the thing is a an absolute beast. too much automation and hi-tech doo-dads for Gromnir, but a beast regardless.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Dark_Raven]

They need to bring back battleships. They used to rule the waves.

[Calax]

we had battleships until 06... but they were ultimately missile platforms.

[Walsingham]

They need to bring back battleships. They used to rule the waves.

 

I'm with DR on this. You can't spoof, deflect, or avoid a 16" armour piercing shell. Missiles are funky, but give me an old battlewagon as part of the taskforce. It's about covering all the bases.

 

I haven't seen the Gerald Ford class, but will make a note to look them up next chance I get.

 

Sand: you MIGHT be able to make something that could be launched underwater and fly, but like with STOVL aircraft the result would be sub-optimal compared with vanilla planes and carriers. On the other hand carriers are massive missile magnets, so putting them underwater could be cool.

[Guard Dog]

The battle of Midway in WW2 made battleships obsolete. In modern war ships don't close with each other to the point where the big guns mean anything. Sorry Wals, no more Trafalgars. The USS Missouri was the last US Battleship in service and all it was used for was off shore artillery. Besides a single Harpoon Class ship to ship missle fired from a tiny destroyer will sink an 800 ton battleship a surely a seventy gun broadside with armor piericing ammo.

[Nick_i_am]

Yeah, it's kind of sad that this is the way things have gone. Even a full array of goalkeeper missle defences doesn't really make a battleship secure enough to justify the cost vs the limited use.

 

Battleships are awsome, but they just arn't useful any more.

[Walsingham]

The battle of Midway in WW2 made battleships obsolete. In modern war ships don't close with each other to the point where the big guns mean anything. Sorry Wals, no more Trafalgars. The USS Missouri was the last US Battleship in service and all it was used for was off shore artillery. Besides a single Harpoon Class ship to ship missle fired from a tiny destroyer will sink an 800 ton battleship a surely a seventy gun broadside with armor piericing ammo.

 

That was true twenty years ago, but missile defence and countermeasures have vastly improved. Missiles are great, but they are dumb, and they are flimsy.

[Sand]

Well, there are new smart missiles being developed in which they are under the remote controle of a person.

[Gromnir]

am gonna have to agree with guard dog on this. is pretty clear that with advent of naval aircraft, long range missiles, and the efficacy o' submarines, the days of surface ships fighting battles on the high seas with big guns seems remote. before the advent o' tomahawk cruise missiles and similar such weapons systems, the battleship were still useful for shore bombardment operations, but nowadays...

 

the bismark's rudder were crippled by a torpedo dropped from an english plane. the yamato and musashi were killed by us carrier group aircraft. the raf crippled the tirpitz with bombs before he (germans refer to their ships as being male) ever made it out into the atlantic.

 

one o' the main reasons th US kept battleships for so long were simply to force the soviet union to build super-expensive battleships, which the soviets couldn't afford to do. since wwii, shipbuilding is probable the one kinda weapon design in which you see the US having clear superiority in quality. build warships is so damned expensive that only the US could afford to do w/o any genuine concerns 'bout cost. simply were able to spend the soviets into capitulation.

 

as an aside, US first genuine attempt to build a cheaper mousetrap, the virginia class attack subs, ended up being far more expensive than expected, pretty much invalidating their raison detre. end up with a boat more expensive than the seawolf, but less capable? tragic.

 

HA! Good Fun!