I know–I was afraid that her ex-husband had pulled some other shenanigans to prevent the kids from coming.
robby – Yes. I asserted that the helplessness she showed was resident in the young airman. But he was too young to either state it or deal with it.
And Zebra, please forgive me if I’m wrong, her son looked as though he was being treated for lukemia or something.
I think he just got butchered at the barber shop, or by an amateur home clipping. Either his dad was trying to save money on haircuts (i.e. this cut should last a while!), or it was punishment for getting gum in his hair or something.
Probably. When we first saw him MrsChief looked at me and asked me if the kid was dying of cancer. Like I’m an expert…
I think this was a great documentary. One of the best I’ve seen. (The thread has been enjoyable as well.) Regarding the music, I loved it. It just seemed somehow… personal. I loved the stories that were told, and the interesting viewpoints into the lives of those wonderful young people as well as the older mentors and higher-ups who took care of them. Great show. I’ll never forget it.
A strong, strong ending. I really liked this series. Misc. thoughts and questions:
The disco ball in the air-traffic control center was funny.
Great montage of what the sailors miss, with three simultaneously saying “Sex!”
The Marine gunny crying after seeing his son’s birth DVD was very powerful. A salsa-dancing gunny - now I’ve seen everything! Felt intrusive to have the camera so tightly focused on him and his wife back home, though - glad they then showed them smiling and having fun together.
robbby, you were right about the young sailor with the pregnant girlfriend. Very uncomfortable to see their scenes together. If I were him, I sure wouldn’t want a camera around for that.
Why did only some of the crew manning the rails salute the Arizona? Most just stood at attention.
Shooter’s story about his son’s mom and her shooting death was incredibly powerful. Adorable kid, though - glad they seem to be on good terms, and it had to be good for the kid to his dad respected and admired by his shipmates as he launched his boots off the cat (how far would a pair of boots be flung by a carrier cat, anyway?)
The red-haired ensign’s story was also very affecting. I felt really relieved when she found her kids at the airport - got something in my eye, as a matter of fact.
Forgot to mention what beautiful cinematography this show had. Some of the outdoor shots of sunsets and clouds were just amazing.
Anyone know what the opening theme song ("…and miles and miles of blue") was? Couldn’t find it on the PBS website, and Google fails me.
Maggie’s mom is pretty damned good at karaoke!
Where does the term “Tiger” come from for the “Tiger Cruise”? Not the Cub Scouts, I presume.
Hodges got a $9K reenlistment bonus - wow! That’s more than I would have thought. Good on him.
I thought the CAG went a bit too far with the rainbow wig, but hey, it was probably his last carrier takeoff (the PBS website says he’s now training other F/A-18 pilots for a civilian contractor; the CO has since made admiral).
As a wrapup, what wasn’t shown that you wish had been? I would’ve liked to see a carrier landing from the pilot’s perspective from start to finish, including more explanation of the “meatball” and the landing-guidance lights… more about the helicopters and the small AWACS plane(s)… an explanation of why Phillip, the videographer’s somewhat-slow buddy, disappeared from the restaurant (at least we saw him when the ship arrived in California)… a few more minutes showing a typical day for the captain; he can’t just be sitting up on the Bridge all the time… and at least a passing reference to The Final Countdown! 
Good show. Glad I saw it all.
A few answers for our resident inheriting elf:
Why did only some of the crew manning the rails salute the Arizona? Most just stood at attention.
Two reasons: 1) honors are only rendered to a passing ship from the facing side (USS Arizona and the men still entombed there merit these honors; and 2) At the speed they were steaming, honors would only be rendered for about 20-30 second. They may have been unable to relocate the cameras so they used footage shot before and after honors were rendered to complete the scene.
**
Anyone know what the opening theme song ("…and miles and miles of blue") was? Couldn’t find it on the PBS website, and Google fails me.**
I dunno. But my favorite lyric from the theme is “Haze gray and underway…” This is a derisive naval phrase for being away from loved ones. Someone with Navy experience wrote those lyrics.
Where does the term “Tiger” come from for the “Tiger Cruise”? Not the Cub Scouts, I presume.
ADM Zumwalt as CNO developed the Navy’s cruise program. There are three types: 1) Guest of the Navy Cruise – DVs remaining overnight; 2) Tiger Cruise – Family and friends remaining overnight; and 3) Dependents Cruise – Family and friends underway during daylight hours. I don’t know where he got “Tiger” from unless it was from the Brady’s first season back yard.
Hodges got a $9K reenlistment bonus - wow! That’s more than I would have thought. Good on him.
And that’s low. You should see what the nukes get as a bonus.
**I thought the CAG went a bit too far with the rainbow wig, but hey, it was probably his last carrier takeoff **
This was rather restrained. I’ve seen Nixon (with Gorbachev as his RIO) do a final launch. As well as a completely naked (except for G-suit and helmet) naval A-vee-A-tor.
**As a wrapup, what wasn’t shown that you wish had been? **
More GQ. Also unreps.
**I would’ve liked to see a carrier landing … explanation of the “meatball” **
Only place to have mounted a camera would have been in the cockpit facing forward. The planes don’t have “Dashboards” and it would have interfered with the Heads-Up-Display. Oh, and when I have an hour or two to kill, I can explain how the fresnel landing system lights work.
**he can’t just be sitting up on the Bridge all the time… **
Wanna bet? Well, most of the time anyway. The CO’s at-sea cabin (where he sleeps, does paperwork, etc.) is located directly behind the bridge on the 09 level. They *will * come down for briefings in the 03 Blue Tile area.
I had one Skipper who only walked the decks on Sunday evenings. When he passed through the mess decks he made the same joke a few times each week – “What? Seagull again?”
IIRC manning the rails was supposed to be like any other formation: i.e. only the OIC or POIC of the formation is required to salute, the rest of the people in formation are to stand at attention, and allow the OIC or POIC to take care of giving/receiving military honors. Having said that, I strongly doubt that people are going to be chewed out for wanting to make a direct, personal salute to the Arizona.
On preview, of course - I may well be wrong, and I’d take ChiefScott’s answer over mine. Nukes are notorious about screwing up military honors anyways. I’m trying to remember a quote I remember being attributed to a chief of NAVSEA 08 from while I was in that went along the lines of “The typical nuke is opinionated, stubborn and determined. And doesn’t always remember to salute.” Maybe robby can recall it, my Google-fu isn’t up to searching through all the spurious hits I’m getting searching for it.
I manned the rails on entry into Pearl in '86.
From what I recall, we were considered to be “in formation”, and as such, the officers (or non-commisioned officers) in charge of the formation saluted, while the junior enlisted did not, unless they were somewhere out on deck, yet not part of a formation.
Hey, chique, knock off twenty years and add a pay-grade and you’re me. I tell people I was in the Navy; I was not a sailor.
ChiefScott, great Crossing story. I was never anywhere near the equator but when I was at Kef, I had hopes for a Bluenose experience. We had the last R4D in the Navy at the time (1976) and it would periodically be used for someone’s flight hours to fly north and land on a bitty island bisected by the Arctic Circle. It only did so twice when I was there and I was on duty both times, then it was abruptly retired and left for the museum at Pensacola. I’d bought a Bluenose certificate and everything and was as up for the chance to ride in a real goony bird as getting the thing signed.
Any chance you could tell us your Chief’s initiation? I witnessed only one (the preliminaries, that is. Not the initiation itself) also at Kef. The guy decided he might as well get hung for a sheep as well as a goat so he was doing everything possible to prove himself “unworthy” beforehand. He’d been given a logbook for recording his offenses and instructed to give it to the SEA (Senior Enlisted Advisor) at the appropriate time. They caught him at the dock in full windup about to do what he was “told” so of course that was recorded as willful misinterpretation.
The Chief’s initiation is another tradition that is being watered down now, too. They still make them construct the logbook and carrying case, but no more Balut…
His name is Chris Altice, and if you’re interested in catching up, he has a video blog:
Re: “meatball” Found a Wiki about a mirror landing aid, with the clearest picture I’ve ever seen of the apparatus itself. The vertical row of lights shows just one yellow image to the pilot, centered between the green horizontal row if the angle is okay, but above or below if the angle is off. The red lights show if you’re way off, and you better do something quick.
Certainly, but not today. If’n you could remind me (start a thread) next week I’ll give you my straight dope. And we really oughta clear the decks here and get underway in MPSIMS…
Mmmm, balut. That’s some good eating right there.
I only had it once - a personal rite of passage. That’s the other thing about the Navy - there’s a big Filipino community in every Navy town.
I needed just as much beer afterward as I needed beforehand.
Sorry I missed that part of your post. Your question is answered in video #3 at the link I gave you. Chris calls Phil and asks him on speaker-phone what happened to him. 
Damn, I can’t open that clip…
Quick two sentence summary?
You’re not going to believe this, but here goes. He met up with an Aborigone who wanted to “take me under his wing and teach me to play the didgeridoo”. He thought long and hard about whether to go with him to the Outback, but eventually decided against it. By the time he made it back where Chris had been, everyone was gone. Other than that, he says he was pretty much too drunk to remember.
Posted Liberal, " he was pretty much too drunk to remember."
Boilerplate Sailor excuse, huh?
Sure. Sailor. College student. Pretty much any 20-year-old away from home for the first time.