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Seasoned Vet
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Issue Date: October 27, 2003
All smiles on deck?
What you love — and hate — about shipboard life
By Mark D. Faram
Times staff writer
Three years ago, when the Navy asked what sailors thought of life at sea, it got an earful about crummy heads and showers. Enlisted sailors groused about the lack of privacy in their cramped quarters. Officers griped about the noise — and everyone despised the Navy’s mattresses. A clear majority of sailors said they were dissatisfied with life at sea.
Last year, when the Navy again asked about quality of life, sailors still complained about a lack of shipboard privacy and the noise — and they still hate the mattresses. But the majority has shifted. Most say they are generally satisfied with their life on ship, or at least ambivalent on the subject.
“Yeah, the mattresses are not comfortable, not at all,” said Lt. j.g. Jay Moore, the sonar-division officer on board the attack submarine Oklahoma City and a former enlisted submariner.
“They’re constantly updating the technology in other equipment. Why can’t we do that in the mattress world?”
Moore effectively straddles the officer and enlisted communities, where there’s still a sharp division in the level of satisfaction with life in the Navy and at sea.
Sixty percent of officers surveyed said they’re OK with life at sea, up sharply from 38 percent just three years ago.
That contrasts with just a 37 percent satisfaction rate among enlisted sailors, though that is also up from a lowly 24 percent three years ago.
“Junior- and midgrade enlisted in a lot of ways are still dissatisfied with various aspects of shipboard life,” said Dr. Gerry Wilcove, a research psychologist with the Navy Personnel Research Studies and Technology department of Navy Personnel Command in Millington, Tenn.
But, compared with the 1999 survey — the last time the Navy polled sailors about quality-of-life issues — rank-and-file satisfaction is growing in many areas. Wilcove cautions that the questions were worded a bit differently in 2002 from the previous survey — an effect he can’t yet gauge.
“But yes, it’s encouraging that the trend is upward,” he said.
But the early results — published here — seem to indicate that while much work needs to be done, shipboard life is improving.
Personal space
At the top of the list of things enlisted sailors hate about life at sea is the lack of space — storage space, berthing space and space in the rack.
“It sure would be nice if they found a way to improve the amount of personal space we get on board ship,” said Jesse Baugh, an air traffic controller second class (AW) aboard the San Diego-based assault ship Boxer.
“It’s more of an issue for me on deployment than in port,” said Baugh, who has an apartment in town. “Most of my stuff is at home, and I usually only keep an extra set of clean utilities and whatever [service] uniform is in season when we’re not underway.”
Only 36 percent of blueshirts are satisfied with the state of shipboard berthing, but that’s up from 21 percent three years ago.
Satisfaction with privacy, too, has improved since the last survey, rising from 12 to 25 percent.
While space issues are tough on surface ships, they’re even worse on submarines.
“That’s totally true — you’ve heard of hot racking. It doesn’t only apply to sleeping,” said Mess Management Specialist 2nd Class (SS) Joseph Henry, a 10-year Navy veteran who has served on both boomer and attack submarines. He said sailors who share racks also have to share limited storage space under the racks.
He sees two solutions: find more space for sailors on submarines or cut down on the uniforms they’re required to bring on deployments.
“That’s what I would look at. Shirts, socks, underwear and the uniform you’re going to wear underway and that’s about it,” he said. “They make you take a lot more that I feel is unnecessary.”
Dress uniforms, he believes, are excess baggage. “I understand why they make us bring them, in case we hit a port and have a reason to wear them,” he said.
Sailors on surface ships like the destroyer McCampbell resort to finding out-of-the-way areas when seeking a bit of privacy.
Since enlisting almost two years ago, Gas Turbine Systems Technician Seaman James Wilson has spent nine months at sea.
“I figured there was going to be tight room,” Wilson said. “Our berthing space is always full.”
He often escapes to the engine spaces for some private time when not on watch.
The McCampbell is the full-time home to Wilson, who is 21 and single. He had few complaints.
“I’m happy living on the ship,” he said while dropping off a uniform at an embroidery shop near the San Diego Naval Station’s main gate. “It’s a lot easier for me because I don’t have to move my things on and off the ship.”
Wilson said he gets a good night’s sleep on the destroyer. “I like how the bunks are set up,” aligned “bow to stern,” he said.
But about those mattresses …
“Our mattresses are way too thin,” he said.
The Navy gradually has been replacing its mattresses with a newer, thicker version, but more data is needed to see if sailors are just as unhappy with the improved versions.
“That would be a good example of an issue we’d recommend be looked at in greater detail,” said Wilcove, the researcher.
Wilson says he’d welcome thicker, more comfortable mattresses. He’d also like a larger and longer bunk because existing racks crowd his 5-foot-10 frame. “I seriously don’t see how the tall guys do it,” he said.
Green hair
Meanwhile, in officer country, the accommodations are much better. That doesn’t mean there aren’t complaints.
Moore, on the Oklahoma City, said his worst officer berthing is still a lot better than what he remembers from his enlisted days.
“Life at sea isn’t easy for anyone, but I knew what I was getting into when I joined,” he said.
He also doesn’t like the Navy’s pillows — an item in the top 10 list of what officers aren’t satisfied with, though it’s not a top complaint for deckplate sailors.
“I like to have neck support when I sleep and these pillows just don’t have it,” Moore said. “They just flatten out, and I have to fold them over or bunch them up to get any level of comfort.”
What officers hate the most, according to the survey, are their showers and heads; it’s almost an even split between the 43 percent who don’t like their facilities and the 45 percent who do. Twelve percent were neutral on the subject.
It could depend on one’s point of view.
“I’m pretty happy with the heads we’ve got here on the Boxer,” said Lt. j.g. Jennifer Rossi, the ship’s electronic warfare officer.
“Our quality of life on this ship is really good,” she said. “I don’t really have too many complaints.”
She also lives off the ship when in port and shares a stateroom with another female junior officer when underway.
“Still, I’ve been on ships where there’s so much chlorine in the water it can turn your hair green,” she said. Other complaints she’s heard from women on ships are that the water’s so heavily laden with chemicals it dries out your skin.
Where she sees room for improvement is in laundry facilities. Self-service laundry reduced sailors’ reliance on ships’ laundry services, but 32 percent of officers and 51 percent of enlisted sailors still aren’t happy with shipboard laundry facilities.
Rossi says access to self-service laundry facilities while on deployment can be tricky.
“There are about 70 officers on board here,” she said. “The males, they share two washers, and all the females share a single washer.
“It gets a little more difficult when all the Marines and the fleet surgical teams come aboard with all the nurses.”
Team players
Eighty-eight percent of officers surveyed said the most satisfying part of life at sea is being part of a “work team or division.” Rossi agrees.
“It’s true about the team situation in this line of work,” she said. “When you’re underway for six months straight, you get to know the people you work with very well and it’s fun to see the team come together.”
Moore sees this happen in two different ways on the Oklahoma City.
“I think if you consider the wardroom as a division, we’re well bonded on the [junior officer] side,” he said “That is important to me. We’re all given missions to do and we’re responsible for seeing it happen. I like that.”
The dynamics, though, can be a bit tricky sometimes.
“It can go to the opposite extreme when you’re in a division that doesn’t get along well,” he said.
E-mail and Internet
The advent of e-mail has had quite an impact on life at sea. Within the last five years, most sailors have gone from the relative isolation of the occasional mail call to the ability to communicate in near-real time with family and friends ashore.
For enlisted sailors, 67 percent taking the survey said e-mail was one of the most satisfying parts of their seagoing life, while just under 71 percent of officers felt the same way.
On submarines, where mail call is almost nonexistent, e-mail is often the only link to the outside world.
“We didn’t have e-mail on my last ship,” said Henry, who left the ballistic missile submarine Michigan almost five years ago to go to recruiting duty. That alone, he said, has improved his quality of life more than anything.
“It’s really nice to be able to communicate with home like that,” he said. But no one at sea has flawless e-mail access.
“We have to be in a particular window for us to be able to send or receive e-mail. Sometimes, we’re there every day and sometimes not for a week.”
Rossi, too, says e-mail is a great shipboard perk — as long as sailors understand the limitations.
“It was spotty at times when we were in the [Persian] Gulf during [operations] Enduring and Iraqi Freedom,” she said. “There were just so many ships competing for bandwidth, and then there were times it was down for security purposes. But you just deal with that as it comes.”
For sailors with Internet access, 37 percent of enlisted sailors said they are happy with their level of access, while 48 percent of officers agreed.
Ambience
And what, you might ask, are sailors most satisfied with about shipboard life?
Lighting. A whopping 73 percent of sailors voted positive on the survey, with only ten percent negative. The issue was eighth on the officers’ top-10 list of satisfying aspects.
“It’s not something I really think about,” Rossi said, laughing, “but our lighting on the Boxer is pretty good.”
“The P-ways are brighter because they’re painted white and the light reflects off the bulkheads.”
Finding an escape
Eighty-two percent of enlisted sailors and 94 percent of officers surveyed say they’re satisfied with their life overall. But when it comes to the military way of life, satisfaction drops to 59 percent of enlisted sailors and 82 percent of officers.
For Henry, the greatest part of his satisfaction comes from spending time with his wife and five children when he’s in port.
“Just like every other sailor, I’d like to spend more time at home. But hey, we got a job to do — that’s what being in the Navy’s all about.”
But “when we’re home, my work schedule lets me get home just before the kids,” he said. “I can’t complain about that.”
But shipboard life has its perks.
“You sure get more money at sea,” Henry said. “I make almost $600 more a month being on sea duty. Not that I’m just money hungry, but that’s a whole other check for most families.”
San Diego bureau chief Gidget Fuentes contributed to this report.
Mark Faram covers enlisted personnel issues. His e-mail address is
------------------------------------------------------------ Out of every 100 men, ten shouldn't even be there, Eighty are just targets, Nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back." - Hericletus, circa 500 BC ----------------------------------------------------------- 
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President for Life
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Regular Joe
 
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Cry me a river you whiny b1tches
PBR me ASAP
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Strong Like Bull, Smart As Rock
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Hard Charger
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My coke isn't cold enough...there's not the right kind of shampoo in the showers...that piece of pie at mess wasn't big enough...oh woe! Woe is me!!
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Seasoned Vet
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I hated spending six to nine hours a day waiting in line for chow.
Go with God, but make Him walk the point.
If you load a mudfoot down with a lot of gadgets he has to watch somebody a lot more simply equipped - say with a stone axe - will sneak up and bash his head in while he is trying to read a Vernier. - Robert Heinlein
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Detachment Sergeant
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They oughta try using a protective mask as a pillow! I always found the ground was soft enough to sleep on, when utterly exhausted. I never got the green hair, but I sure did have plenty of green FACE. I never worried about the lighting, as long as I had my NVGs. D'ohh well.
 ALWAYS OUT FRONT
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