This kind of post-Vietnam general-purpose anti-Military attitude (you really can't think of anything more dreadful?) was felt strongly over the past few decades by base planners as they adjusted to future needs. Several reasons combined to result in a de-militarization of the cities, but this one figured highly: port cities didn't want "the military" nearby; big cities complained about the noise from aircraft. Places like San Francisco and New York have essentially lost their long-term historical military presence, which has had the net effect of making the military "those other people who I don't have any contact with and don't know anything about" ...
Now if you want to find a military base, you have to head out to rural areas. And don't think that the soldiers, sailors, and airmen haven't noticed that they've been sent to pasture.
> But I've watched a couple of episodes, and it's actually pretty
> interesting, as it's basically the United States at sea, with all its
> intersections of class, race, sex, nationalism, control,
> resistance, etc.
I think it was an excellent presentation of how insular life in the military has become; in about one generation, military service has gone from something that was common throughout many walks of life to basically be confined to a "military class" -- and it's not an over-class, that's for sure. I don't think it's a reflection of the US at all; to the contrary, it has become a very specific and small slice of the US. At the same time, the support system of 'friends and family' has become _more_ accessible (via Internet and sat phones), reinforcing the insularity ("us vs them").
I found many of the people the series followed fascinating and yet ... deployment used to be the uncommon case, with liberty calls designed to keep sailors grounded in society -- now deployment has become an extension of the closed-off "home life" ... I found it very disturbing.
/jordan