There is so much to write about being in the Navy for 18+ yrs. I am a Navy Commander, surface warfare type and have seen a lot of changes. If you join the Navy, your job is to get underway to do the Nation’s bidding. Cryptologists, Intel, nuclear officers all get underway. There is no “desk job” in the Navy. Recently, the Navy has been tapped to help out the Army filling billets in Afghanistan, Iraq, Djibouti, Philippines, etc. We are all over the world. You may rotate from a ship to a shore billet, but will always return to the sea.
For your weight, lose it before you join if you are fat. If you are in shape and proportional, you can remain. They are downsizing the force to save money and the out of shape folks are the first to go. They will measure your neck and waist and if you exceed 24% bodyfat for 3 cycles (18mos) you will be separated period. If you are big and strong now, you will have a tough time maintaining that on a ship with limited food choices, but it can be done. Just don’t let your bodyfat get out of check. The Marines have much stricter standards and they are graded on their appearance. Their culture is much more physical than the Navy, but also varies depending on what command you are in. You have to “run” a PT test 2x a year, and unless you have organized command PT, you don’t have to run more than that and can do other forms of cardio if you want. elliptical, swim etc. The PT test has always allowed a swim option, and more recently allowed the elliptical and treadmill, but generally, the command has to approve their use instead of you just running it like everyone else.
Most ships have small weight rooms or a universal station if it is a DDG or Frigate. Large Deck amphibs have the largest weight rooms because they have to maintain their weapons systems (the embarked marines). Small Deck Amphibs have so-so weight rooms, but enough to make progress. Carriers have the most equipment, usually 2 or more weight rooms, and tons of dedicated cardio equipment. Quality of life will always be better on the Larger platform there is more people to share the work, so more time for workouts, more space etc. Smaller ships have the potential for better comraderie, but your workload will be so high you will be happy for 4-6 hours of sleep let alone a workout. My first ship I bought $5K of equipment as the recreation officer and mounted it on the topside superstructure above the bridge and it was like muscle beach, working out in the sun, but when the ship rocks, your bench gets real heavy real quick. I also kept an EZ curl and some weights and just did circuit/maintenance stuff.
For Kingskrs, I was on the NIMITZ for the past 2 years and did 2 deployments and served with many of the people in the video.
If anyone wants to know more, PM me or ask specific questions, there are SO many aspects of this in making a decision of this magnitude including if you want to be married and start a family, how long you want to serve, what your job will entail, deployments etc. What educational benefits you want, the new GI bill becomes effective in August. The BS that everyone talks about comes with the territory and it is a VOLUNTEER military and once you sign, be prepared to say Yes Sir and carry out your orders with a cheery Aye Aye whether you agree or not. Military is not bad, better, worse, just different from what many people have experienced. Besides, “a bitching sailor is a happy sailor” (LOL)
For all the recruiter haters out there, a lot of times it is that you just didn’t know which questions to ask and they didn’t freely volunteer the information or you or they or both were unaware of the requirements to get into a community. Recruiting is one of the hardest jobs and every service member has to be screened to get that job, not to mention extensive training. They are the representatives of their service to the outside world a lot of times. The folks that enlist simply do not recognize the needs of the service for filling particular jobs/billets/MOS. It is a balancing act between the personal needs of the service member, the needs of the service, and your career needs to keep you eligible for advancement. Be respectful.
Hope some of this helps from the Navy side 
Chris
