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 The
Submariner
The
tragic loss of the submarine Thresher and 129 men had a special
kind of impact on the nation....a special kind of sadness, mixed
with universal admiration for the men who choose this type of
work. One could not mention the Thresher without
observing, in the same breath how utterly final and alone the end
is when a ship dies at the bottom of the sea......and what a
remarkable specimen of man it must be who accepts such a risk.
Most of us might be moved to conclude, too, that a tragedy of
this kind would have a damaging effect on the morale of the other
men in the submarine service and tend to discourage future
enlistment. Actually, there is not evidence that this is
so. What is it then, that lures men to careers in which
they spend so much of their time in cramped quarters, under great
psychological stress, with danger lurking all about them?
Bond
Among Them
Togetherness
is an overworked term, but in no other branch of our military
service is it given such full meaning as in the so called "silent
service. " In an undersea craft, each man is totally
dependent upon the skill of every other man in the crew, not only
for top performance but for actual survival.
Each knows
that his life depends on the others and because this is so, there
is a bond among them that both challenges and comforts them.
All of this gives the submariner a special feeling of pride,
because he is indeed a member of an elite corps. The
risks, then, are an inspiration rather than a deterrent.
The challenge of masculinity is another factor which attracts men
to serve on submarines. It certainly is a test of a man's
prowess and power to know he can qualify for this highly
selective service. However, it should be emphasized that
this desire to prove masculinity is not pathological, as it might
be in certain daredevil pursuits, such as driving a motorcycle
through a flaming hoop.
Emotionally
Healthy
There
is nothing daredevil's about motivations of the man who decides
to dedicate his life to the submarine service. He does,
indeed, take pride in demonstrating that he is quite a man, but
he does not do so to practice a form of foolhardy brinkmanship,
to see how close he can get to failure and still snatch victory
from the jaws of defeat. On the contrary, the aim in the
submarine service is to battle danger, to minimize the risk, to
take every measure to make certain that safety rather danger, is
maintained at all times.
Are the men in the submarine
service braver than those in other pursuits where the possibility
of sudden tragedy is constant? The glib answer would be to
say they are. It is more accurate, from a psychological
point of view, to say they are not necessarily braver, but that
they are men who have a little more insight into themselves and
their capabilities.
They know themselves a little better
than the next man. This has to be so with men who have a
healthy reason to volunteer for a risk. They are generally
a cut healthier emotionally than others of the similar age and
background because of their willingness to push themselves a
little bit farther and not settle for an easier kind of
existence.
We all have tremendous capabilities but are
rarely straining at the upper level of what we can do, these men
are.
The country can be proud and grateful that so many of
its sound, young, eager men care enough about their own stature
in life and the welfare of their country to pool their skills and
match them collectively against the power of the sea.
by
Dr. Joyce Brothers
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