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Aboard the USS Chancellorsville, South China Sea. (July 28, 2022): In this photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin Stack, sailors conduct stretcher bearer training for a mass casualty event in the event of an emergency. A sailor’s life is filled constant training, long hours, and plenty of stresses and frustrations.

Only a tiny fraction of Americans will ever know what it is like to live aboard a warship, be it an aircraft carrier, a destroyer, or an amphibious assault vessel. A sailor’s life is often filled with stress, monotony, boredom, homesickness, frustration, and fatigue while experiencing new cultures and visiting exotic locales around the world. Life aboard “the Boat” as sailors say, is anything but ordinary.

Each day begins with reveille at zero dark thirty followed by the daily announcements blaring over the ship’s communications. You wait in line for breakfast, stuffed into cramped spaces, for what seems like an hour. Next, you begin your 12-hour (often more) shift that includes constant training, spot checks, team meetings, and examinations on ship maintenance. The ship will often go into “Alert Mode” where sailors face simulated attacks, practice fire control and evacuation procedures, and train for medical emergencies.