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ZorbaTHut  1yr ago (text post)   44989 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022

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deleted

you say there's no "Navy infantry"; what about like the people who man battleships

One the level of staffing, yes of course. That's the sort of jobs enlisted men do in the Navy, mechanics, cooks, gun crewmen etc. But those jobs are not the sort of fallback position someone who was trying out for the SEALs is likely to be all that happy with. Might be gunners mate, but might also be snack bar at the on post gym. My point was that the people who go out for these units want to fight. For whatever reason, they're trying to get as close as possible to being the guys who are actually kicking the doors and shooting the faces. Even in the military, this is a distinct minority of people. But, because the Navy doesn't really do that sort of fighting as part of its normal job, they don't have a junior varsity squad to send these prospective SEALs to if they wash out. In the Army or the Marines, you just drop down a level, there's a whole pyramid scheme of "hardercore" units from basic line grunts to airborne to rangers to green berets to whatever the fuck they're calling Delta these days. Wash out of Airborne? No problem, go to a line unit. Made airborne but washed in Selection? Why not try out for the Rangers?

So it would make sense from my point of view that the best of the best in the Navy would be attached to... the best of the best battleships.

There is a prestige thing with serving on certain ships, I think. The Navy gives it's best new toys to its top officers etc. But as I said above, being the top plumber's mate on the Navy's best ship isn't really the plan B guys going out for the SEALs are likely to be all that happy about.

deleted

You're thinking Marines. They're the Amphibious assaulters, and by rights should be under the navy... Which they are, technically... the department of Navy which doesn't allow meaningful crossover between Marines and Navy.

Can’t say how the Navy works, but people who wash out from some Air Force specialties end up in jobs like postal worker or supply staff, and I suspect this might have to do with the time and budget allotted for training and what other technical school is located near the first training option. Postal was adjacent to my school, thus, washouts went right to postal.

“Running a snack bar” seems weird, since that’s usually a civilian position for local staff or military spouses/teen kids.

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