Navy Questions
Would a navy seal really get busted down to a cook for hitting a senior officer?
Would a Battleship Commander know how to weld a bowplane on a submarine?
Would an Admiral really know a "Chief" well enough to vouch for him?
1) Anybody can be busted or even charged for hitting a senior officer
2) Battleship Commander could have come up through the ranks. Maybe he has an engineering background. Extremely possible when you realize Annapolis has one of the best engineering programs in the country.
3) On our base, I knew a lieutenant who was godfather to an Admiral's son. So I would say yes.
Thanks for the answers.
Re #1: Would the Navy really punish that offense by demoting a Chief of a Seal Team to a cook on a Battleship or is that pure Hollywood?
Just going by the film details, Ryback, a former Navy SEAL retains his rank of Chief Petty Officer. The position of culinary specialist is a rating, not a rank, that is to say a job description, where there are junior and senior enlisted serving.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culinary_specialist_(United_States_Navy)
He was not demoted but moved laterally to other duties. Basically the top brass, in the narrative of the film, honour him by keeping him in the service despite his offence of striking an officer, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Ryback.
And yes, people who have served with exceptional individual tend to remember them, even socialise with them outside service and consider them friends regardless of rank withing service.
Edit to add two details: in the poster shown on MC, Ryback seems to wear flag officer shoulder boards despite beinf enlisted, and by the sequel he has been commissioned as a lieutenant.
Thanks for the info. I'm sure you can see why myself and others in the GP may have thought he was demoted. The Wikipedia article on Casey Ryback literally says "demoted to cook".
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Regarding the cook aspect (I can't speak to the rest), Ryback clearly had a knack around the galley - he was adamant that the guard get his pies out of the oven so they didn't burn.