I mentioned the inter-service rivalry in passing once already. It has reared its ugly head at least one other time on this trip, not because of the diversity of people currently aboard the USS Kearsarge but because of who’s not on it. The Kearsarge is an amphibious assault ship whose primary purpose is to deliver an entire Marine expeditionary unit to shore. But sailors don’t like traveling with a MEU. Why? To quote one Navy officer: “All the Marines do is eat, work out, eat, work out, eat and sleep.”
