Life At Sea --- Carrier

Sunday night I sat down to watch the new PBS documentary Carrier which is a multi-episode documentary looking at the lives of the sailors and Marines serving aboard this floating city. I must say that the first two hours was a fascinating view into this close-knit community, especially because it seems clear that the producers are going to focus on the humanity on board the ship. As one sailor mentioned in the first segment, on board a carrier “you see the best of the best and the worst of the worst.” I anticipate seeing what this actually means as the documentary episodes unroll this week.

Tuesday's episode, entitled “Super Secrets,” is said to address the many secrets existing aboard the ship –both official and unofficial. This includes, apparently, touching on the lives of lesbian, gay and bisexual sailors serving on the ship and the secrets they must keep in order to continue serving. With more than 5,000 sailors and Marines on the USS Nimitz, a conservative estimate (5%) would put the LGB population around 250 sailors. That is 250 people carefully negotiating the minefield of what personal information to share with their friends and coworkers and what information to keep absolutely secret. I will be interested in seeing how the service members respond to this issue. From the first two episodes aired we have already been introduced to the premise that it is still okay for male pilots to make fun of each other through gay jokes or intimating another male pilot is acting like a girl. Those jokes were clearly said without malice but it does set a tone. As an outside observer I cringed a little when I watched a female pilot hearing these remarks.

I am hoping that tonight’s episode will reflect where I think today’s sailors and Marines are regarding this issue – which is that we are leaps and bounds past the homophobic attitudes outlined in the 1993 Congressional testimony about DADT. That unlike Senator Nunn’s publicity stunt filming on board a submarine in 1993, this PBS documentary will be an unbiased window into the attitudes of the sailors and Marines currently serving. I truly think the Will and Grace generation could care less about the sexuality of the service member to their left or to their right as long as the job is getting done right.

Click here to visit PBS online and find local listings. Click here to read Towleroad.com's interview with former Third Class Petty Officer Brian Downey, one of the sailors featured in Tuesday nights episode. Brian shares his thoughts about why he enlisted, his experience aboard the Nimitz, and descibes life aboard a ship, living under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

-Kathi Westcott