Friday, Gail and I went on a tour of the aircraft carrier USS Midway. After the tour and dinner, we returned to the Midway to take part in the GI Film Fest, a series of films and speakers that took place over 10 days in San Diego. The Midway event was a showing of the film Max, a chance to meet trainers and their dogs, which are trained to be service dogs for vets suffering from PTSD. We also met Max and his trainer (actually one of 6 dogs used in the movie).
The USS Midway, commissioned in 1946, and decommissioned in 1992, the longest serving aircraft carrier on the U.S.
Tight seeping quarters for the enlisted sailors!
There was even a brig for naughty sailors.
Throughout the ship were realistic mannequin sailors doing their jobs, such as these in the 3rd engine room.
Controlling steam from boilers and using it to adjust throttles to the engines is a dangerous and precise skill.
The self-guided tour was by audio players and headphones, and was narrated by some of the ship's former sailors.
This was a hands on demo of the steam throttle controls.
This giant computer could store up to one gig of memory. By comparison, my iPhone has 60 gigs of memory.
There were many different aircraft on display.
Gail and I took control of this one.
The enlisted dining hall served SOS daily.
An officer's cabin looks quite comfy!
The ship had numerous pods on its sides, which turned out to be 25 man life rafts.
Looking down on the flight deck from the bridge.
This is where the flight controller sits to monitor all landings.
We loved the navigators's chair.
The ship's stern with sailors and life rafts.
In the evening, we got to meet "Max" on the right and his trainer. Max is a Belgian Malinois, a popular breed for military duty.
These dogs are in training to be service dogs for vets with PTSD.
The film was kicked off by Max, his trainer, the producer of Max, and a KPBS personality.
There were many families that came to see the film, but we had several issues with it. It was a dog film seemingly geared for family, but it was very violent with shooting, gang gun trafficking, and dog fights. The movie incorporated every plot trick and stereotype in the book. We felt it missed the mark, and could have been more informative about the amazing dogs that serve our country, and the people that work with them.
Saturday night, we went back to San Diego to see Project 22, which was a much better documentary about the high suicide rate of veterans - 22 a day! The directors were two vets who took their message on the road for 22 days, to spread the word to other vets and raise awareness about how to heal through alternative forms of therapy. Sadly, there were only about 15 people who turned out to see this worthwhile film. That was our military weekend!
1 comment:
Those dogs look so sweet! I'm sorry 'Max' was a bust. The other film sounded better. I'm familiar with the 22 veterans a day statistic, but read recently that most of the suicides are veterans age 50 or older, so it could be a little misleading. (Of course, it's just as sad if veterans who are older are committing suicide, but it says something different than if they are recent vets.)
I toured the Midway with Nora's class. Pretty interesting!!
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