It’s hard. Life sucks. I mean, life at sea sucks in general, but even more as a nuke. I’d sooner go back to Iraq* (or pick your place, as long as it’s dry land) than out to sea again. And in the end, it was life as a nuke that broke me.
*Ok, one caveat. I regret participating in an unjust war. As a moral matter only—setting aside physical comfort or other psychological concerns and just focusing on the moral concern, which I think must predominate—I suppose I’d have to pick going out to sea again over projecting violence within the borders of another sovereign nation. But frankly even ships at sea are engaged in the projection of force against other nations. Truth be told, I just wouldn’t be in the military again.