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Based on the stuff you see in the movies, living on a submarine is an exciting adventure. But there’s a lot you don’t see in the movies. In this Cracked article, Cleve Langdale, a former Navy nuclear machinist’s mate, tells you what it’s really like to be in a submarine. For example:

The oxygen levels on a submarine are kept dramatically low. This is primarily to keep the risk of fires at a minimum, but it has some side effects. Most submariners work with their hands and get injured a fair amount. You’d be surprised what a small drop in oxygen levels will do to your body’s ability to repair itself. Constantly oozing wounds are the name of the game. It is not a fun game.

Low oxygen levels also make everyone a) tired as f**k-all, and b) constantly pissed off. The first time I went down the hatch, a guy broke a coffee mug over my head because I didn’t move as fast as he would have liked. Three years later, I dropped him off at the airport when he got out; I was the last person he saw as an enlisted man, and he’s one of the people I admire most in the world … but man, do folks be pissy without their precious oxygen.

The only time they’d turn the damned stuff up was when we had a “field day,” a term that means something a little different here from what it does in the civilian world. It probably means something fun to you. To the Navy, it means everyone gets the honor of cleaning everything. Everyone. Everything. But add a few extra percentage points of oxygen and everyone’s happy as hell about it, so long as they get the privilege of breathing correctly.

Full story at Cracked.

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