How has the Navy changed in the last 20 years?

Oh my. Where do I start? First of all, all of this PC BS needs to go. It has no place in the military. This kinder, gentler crap has taken all power away from RDCs and DIs. Boot was supposed to be where all of the crap was thrown out. But now they make it to the fleet and it's the LPOs job to babysit. Oh yeah, they are also allowed to watch tv and have cell phones in bootcamp now. What kind of &#*$@ is that?!?!

There is most definitely NO respect at all for rank structure. This generation of entitlement are babied through boot and well into the fleet. I really and truly am glad that I was medically retired 2 1/2 years ago because there is no way I could deal with how drastically it's changed since I've gotten out. My husband, being an LPO, has his hands basically tied. Everything has to go on paper. No more attitude adjustments. Hell, I don't even think they issue EMI anymore. Oh and swearing, you may as well forget about that too. It might offend someone. *eyeroll*

Yes, they have internet on the ships. Most correspondence with your other half is email. There are shipboard phones that you can use phone cards with but those are hit or miss. Last I was on a ship though was 2008. And it was a dollar a minute to use those phones. Unless they have changed the rules, which I doubt they did, all cell phones have to be turned off while underway.

Lol...No McDonald's or anything like that aboard ship. Those that have any type of fast food like that have the hook up with folks on the CODs.

As for exercises, it sounds as though they're pretty much the same. War games. Us against them.

Hope that gives you some insight as to how it's changed and how it's stayed the same :)

Thanks for posting such an interesting topic. I served from '77 - '01, so I was at sea a lot during the "era of 3-4 week old letters" at Mail Call. I'll tell you, in those days, when the Helo came in with First Class Mail, it was a big deal for the morale of the crewmembers. My wife was a prolific letter writer, and would number each of her daily letters to make it easier for me to follow what was going on at home.
I remember during Westpac in 1980 onboard USS Truxtun (CGN-35), we were in the IO during the Iran Hostage Crisis. Spent 144 straight days at sea because we needed no refueling. So the letters from home were particularly prized during that deployment. We got word that the Helo was on approach, and went to Flight Quarters, eager to receive what was described as 1200 pounds of First Class Mail. Suddenly, the Helo developed serious mechanical problems and the crew had to ditch into the ocean about 1000 yards astern of us. Everyone on the Flight Deck was obviously concerned, and we were able to witness the rescue of the Helo crew. But down to the bottom of the IO went our mail bags, and, as Sailors will do, the griping and colorful language ensued. More than once I heard comments like, "to hell with the crew, they should have saved the mail bags". I still laugh when I think back on that day.
When we received a load of mail the next time, I was missing over 20 numbered letters. Made it a bit difficult to follow the news from home, and when I was able to finally call home, I had to reset my wife's expectations of what I knew and didn't know.
Such was the life of a fleet sailor in the early '80s. One last thought, I also remember making a MARS call home from the harbor at Diego Garcia. Had to be connected through a half dozen or so HAM Radio operators who volunteered their time all over the world. Had to say "over" after each sentence, so they could switch the gear from transmit to receive. Anyone else ever do that?

Well I'm a submariner so rarely do we really have unclass internet access (on surface we do,early used so slow) we do get email though. Cell phones you can use if not working or on maneuvering watch. But you can Olly imagine that at sea you don't have signal.

Our missions focus on support war in the middle east mostly like every one else in the military. However to do some other thinks we did back in your time.

I'm pretty sure carriers don't have McD's (PRTs would be tough to pass) but I don't know much about that life. But I do know they have internet underway on surface ships, must be nice and TV. You should look in to watching Carrier (PBS series) seems like it maybe accurate to their life underway (sucks it focuses mustly on flight deck life and not most of the rest of the ship like they don't exist) but its pretty enjoyable and insiteful.