Hey lexicon, I'm glad you were able to see that documentary because a lot of people think it's "military" and glorify it. It's an incredibly hard life as you saw. Most people don't stay longer than 4 years.
When people get in trouble on shore a lot of it involves alcohol. Most of these trouble makers are young kids straight out of high school.
We do live in enclosed spaces day in and day out. I work with a crew of 15 people but there is 1 person that I don't get along with so that is just too bad. I don't care for this person and I want to ignore them but they throw their issues and problems at me, pretty much dragging me into their pettiness, so it can get aggravating. I end up fighting battles I want nothing to do with. I felt like I wanted to destroy him... but he will destroy himself and other people are already looking to destroy him. I'd rather keep my hands clean. Karma guys... is real.
On another note, I didn't know about this when I first came in... (naive)... but there's a lot of people here who cheat on their spouses, bf's, gf's. There's a lot of lonely people too so if they like someone, or maybe they work with that person, feelings might develop. We spend years out here so it's crazy to deny normal behavior like dating and having a relationship.
You know how relationships are already crazy but in the Navy they can totally suck... I had a long term relationship in the past that went wrong and we saw each other for two years after the fact, there was so much tension, it was stupid. These people are stuck with you on this ship for years so that's one BIG thing to consider and if you share friends... that's worse.
Recently if you guys read some of my posts around here... I had a lame BFF break up. She was the one that established that we were best friends. I never agreed by word but I liked her a lot as a person. I didn't do anything major to cause it, I just didn't answer her text about going to the beach after we had an argument 2 days prior... I wanted to know why she told me off at a camping trip ...lol. It was really dark, I turned around and saw her behind me so I asked her 'what are you doing?' Suddenly she says, "duck you!" and walked away. Her tone of voice and storming off told me it wasn't a joke. So when I inquired... she said that I was playing around and that the sensation from the fire felt like I threw dirt in her eye. ...lol okay. I needed a break from stupidity so I didn't answer her text about the beach. Come Monday, she acts weird and tells me once she is done with a person, she doesn't take them back. I was so confused for a while. A normal person gets over it... and chills out. She just sulked and refused to talk to me or look at me. Basically she's irrational, childish, and blew things out of proportion. What used to be fun times working together ended up becoming awkwardly quiet (especially) when we are left alone together. You know where this is going... in the end I have nothing against her, but she has something against me so it's completely weird. Everyone tells me it's her loss for being childish and immature. And they are right. It still doesn't make the pain any less though.
As a girl and having to deal with women temper tantrums... it can get vicious. Guys... some people don't ever leave middle school. Fact. Basically... breakups on the ship suck especially if you see them with a new person omg... seeing people you hate suck but those people (are easy to ignore), and friend break ups suck (no one expects their friends to ever stop talking EVER).
You know what though... this is in my opinion a good thing, that being here in the Navy after some time "forces" you to grow up. There's a lot of drama and pain and we're all just human. Especially since you can't go anywhere and do anything important (maybe go to the gym) ...you'll have a lot of time to sit and think... quietly. It feels like I'm in a giant prison with a bunch of random people here. I try so hard to stay away from drama, especially picking people as friends, but even then sometimes I pick weak characters (like pokemon) that end up dragging drama in their life and I'll end up having to deal with that end of the spectrum. Why can't things be easy?! lol...
My resolution is to keep peaceful relations with everyone as much as possible.
The only thing I feel most sad about is missing out on family and not being able to enjoy their company. Every year they grow older and older, especially my parents, I miss them. Other than that... I realize this is just a job. In life we all work and we all have stuff to do... especially if we move to a different state from our family. It just sucks A LOT being stuck on a boat for 3-5 years at a time. I always pray that my family stays healthy for many years to come.