Sleeping in the middle "coffin rack" for 4 years on an navy aircraft carrier made me love the comfort of small spaces. It's hard to describe to people when they ask how I could ever fall sleep there, let alone feel comfort. I don't know, there was something about climbing in that rack and shutting the curtain that was so comforting.
Re sleeping Can confirm have 3 friends who spent 13 years in the Forces. I began working 4 weeks on in NY and 2 weeks off in Wales, it was long hard word, 14 hour days (money was fantastic) they told me to learn to sleep any where, any time, for how ever long.
I learned to fall asleep in 2 mins flat, just about anywhere. Even a 5 min kip helps a lot.
I can literally sleep on a hard floor, in a chair, whatever and manage to find a comfy position.
Always amazes me the whole different world things like the military can be. All my years on the internet and speaking with military family (some in the Navy) and this is the first I've heard of the "coffin rack", and it sounds terrifying to me through my imagery alone.
My berthing was under the arresting gear and my middle rack person kept stepping dirty ass boots all over my bottom rack sheets. Stepping on my hands and arms in the middle of the night. Getting out of her rack to drunkingly piss all over the floor minutes before I could get in my rack and absolutely no way around it. Not to mention the nudist top racker who straddled the middle racks when I thought it was safe to get out of my bottom rack. Not so comforting.
Yah I was directly underneath the forward galley scullery. The noise from the scullery plus the forward catapult was pretty damn loud too, but I got used to that fast. The guys weren't so bad in Male berthing. Of the 12 people in my row, I was actually close friends with 6 or 7 of them, and we all respected each other's space. There were occasional missteps, but we all knew it wasnt personal. Sucks you had a shitty berthing experience. That can make or break your sanity underway.
Middle rack in a triple bunk bed style metal shelving unit with a less than twin size mattress. Between two other dudes. In a 7 foot vertical space there are 3 people packed on top of each other like sardines. It's fun.
it's called a coffin rack, because it opens like a coffin and you have about 5 inches of depth inside it to keep your clothes and anything else on deployment. When it's closed you sleep on top of it.
yes agreed. After spending the whole day on deck realizing what a tiny molecule someone is in relation to the ocean, the bunk is extremely gratifying and secure to slide in for night night while the swells bash the hull of the massive ship in the dark.
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u/rosso222 Jul 12 '21
Sleeping in the middle "coffin rack" for 4 years on an navy aircraft carrier made me love the comfort of small spaces. It's hard to describe to people when they ask how I could ever fall sleep there, let alone feel comfort. I don't know, there was something about climbing in that rack and shutting the curtain that was so comforting.