Complex Numbers

Under the Sea

I don't really have a lot to say in response to today's article. I just found it to be interesting, and the best-written piece I've ever read on what it's like to be a whatever; in this case, a Navy submarine sailor (so if you want to weigh in here, Sum1's Home! , feel free).

Nukes, Nubs And Coners: The Unique Social Hierarchy Aboard A Nuclear Submarine  
Getting assigned to your first sub doesn’t make you a submariner and once you become one you’ll find yourself in a social structure unlike any other.

I would imagine that if you're working with a bunch of other people in exceedingly tight quarters, for months at a time, you'd need some traditions and customs in addition to the usual military codes of conduct. Hell, I can't be stuck with most people for more than a few hours at a stretch without having to retreat. Months? And to think I almost joined the Navy, albeit through the Academy.

A new crewmember is a Non-Useful Body, or NUB. He or she uses our limited supply of space, water, food, and oxygen. They are not welcome, but BUPERS (Bureau of Personnel) keeps sending them.

I get that any new people in the military get hazed and mocked. I even get why (there are a few reasons, not least of which is that if you can't take shit from your superiors, you certainly won't be able to take shit from the enemy). But it's one reason I never signed up. It'd be like:

Chief: "Waltz, I'd call you a tool, but that would be an insult to tools."
Me: "Yes, Chief. You're correct. I am utterly incompetent and always will be. I shouldn't even be here."

Or:

Chief: "Waltz, you're completely useless."
Me: *shrug* "Then why do you even want me to try?"

I think the psychology is meant to make the enlistee really very badly want to prove their NCO wrong. But I figure that would just be disrespectful; why not prove them right instead?

Anyway. Not much else to add to the article. Like I said, I just found it enlightening, as my primary source of information on what it would be like to be stuck with a bunch of people in an airtight vessel was Star Trek, and as much as I like Star Trek, I was never under any illusion that any of it was realistic, especially the wide corridors, spacious bridge, and ample recreational areas.

Incidentally, I once got curious to find out why the command center of a vessel is usually called a "bridge." Apparently it's a holdover from the riverboat days when the controls were on a deck that literally bridged the boat  , between the paddlewheels.

Or so I was told. It's entirely possible I was misinformed. After all, I'm useless.

Incidentally, if you want to mess with a sailor, call a ship a "boat," and call a boat a "ship." Want to know which is which? Don't ask me. But I very nearly picked up a Navy officer lady at a bar one time with that discussion. Until I remembered that I have a sworn rule against picking anyone up at a bar.