You are dead on, Gorilla!
The USN’s complete world wide monopoly and mastery of all facets of Carrier Ops is one of the critical components of our strategic global war fighting ability. That old truism about the ‘projection of American power’ never rang more true. The bad guys really, really hate it; almost as much as USAF fighter pilots.
In addition to the instances of NCL fear and loathing you cite, there are several more that bear mentioning:
F-15/16 drivers almost always demean the ability of Naval Aviators to land their Hornets in the dark on less than 150 ft of pitching deck by retreating into the tired, old AF typical defensive reply of “Yeah, but life onboard ship really s*cks. Who wants to be deployed on sea duty for 6 months at a time with your whole life devoted 24/7 to delivering death and destruction to our enemies? I mean, what’s the deal with those non-stop, high-tempo flight ops anyway?”
AAFES research studies indicate that legal, hot, single chicks hanging around the O’Club are 7.6x more likely to go home with Navy and Marine F-18 pilots after letting Viper and Eagle drivers buy all the drinks while discussing the most challenging AF golf courses, the superior safety characteristics of 8,000 foot runaways, and their imagined distaste for sea duty.
P-3 pilots have also been known to attempt to down-talk carrier landings by immediately changing the topic and injecting into the conversation the financial benefits of per diem orders. In a tactic similar to that used by AF pilots complaining about the prospect of life at sea, P-3 pilots have also been known to relate their unhappy shipboard experiences during their disassociated sea tour.
Let's keep comparing notes.
