This week on iTunes there is a free preview to the PBS documentary Carrier. Maybe I'm jaded, but I'm not a fan of making a spectacle of sailor's lives. On more than one occasion, I witnessed the director of the series mention sailors as "Characters".
This implies to me that they didn't see "5000 stories". This implies to me that they saw "5000 opportunities".
We see time after time, a sailor crying (and not just women). We see them making off-the-cuff remarks about family life and home. I've seen it all before. I've lived the at-sea life. It can be very dramatic. And I very easily understand why the producers thought this would be a great project.
But my brothers and sisters are not characters. The Navy is not a Jerry Springer episode. These men and women have to perform amazingly difficult and dangerous tasks. Allot of them are leaders that have junior sailors who look up to them.
It's hard to respect a Chief's character when he's being treated like one on national television.
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