10 submariners’ tips for quarantine

10 submariners’ tips for the quarantine: the video of the Italian Navy

No one known better than them what it means to br completely isolated from the outside world. And perhaps, compared to the time they spend indoors, our long quarantine is equivalent to a short breath of fresh air. We are talking about the submariners of the Italian Navy, who are familiar with confined and armored spaces.

Immune to claustrophobia – otherwise they would not have chosen such an extreme profession – they are still subjected to the tension of life underwater, with no contact with other people. They live in steel 56 x7x 14 meters high cylinders, in a very basic context. They wear heavy fireproof suits (even in summer), sleep in berths separated by curtains and share two toilets.

Their patrol activity has an average duration of one month, more or less the same time of the lockdown we’re respecting on the mainland. Of course, between our curfew and staying inside a submarine there is an abysmal difference.

Home confinement and life in a submarine: some similarities

While we stay home to facilitate the containment of Covid-19, the submariners of the Italian Navy (which has eight submarines) are isolated in the depths of the seas to fulfill intelligence services in the Mediterranean, to combat drug, arms and human trafficking , and monitor the activities of possible polluters and terrorists.

However, even if routine in a submarine is regulated by strict schedules, daily training and maintenance activities, and there is no Internet connection, therefore not even a “window” of distractions, there are some similarities with the quarantine we’re experiencing.

First of all, the perception of time, which must not be experienced as a countdown towards the goal of the long-awaited freedom but as an opportunity to rediscover the precious value of the time we have available, to devote to our family or to ourselves. On board the submarines, in fact, there is no lack of creative ideas because the crew is made up of soldiers who, in the aboveground life, are cookers, artisans or artists.

10 submarine tips for the quarantine: a set of guidelines from the abyss

Some submarines of the Italian Navy have made the video that we have published above and which contains some useful tips to better face this period of quarantine. Here are the ten commandments from the abyss:

1. Make isolation an opportunity, time is precious and does not go back.
2. Take time for yourself and cultivate your passions.
3. Establish your routine and involve your family.
4. Keep fit, 30 minutes a day is enough.
5. Plan your shopping and the menu to have healthy and balanced diet
6. Spend part of your time taking care of your spaces. It will help you handle everything else.
7. Sometimes, break your daily routine to start again with more motivation
8. Keep your network of social and emotional relationships active
9. Face the day with a smale: it is a very effective medicine
10. Think about what you will do in your future. It is  the only thing you can really change for the better!
    

Mutual tolerance, collaboration and self-denial both on board and at home

To make this happen in absolute harmony “mutual tolerance is fundamental – explains Manuel Moreno Minuto, commander of the submarine school of Taranto and author of the video – Cooperation must always pass over any difference of views.

It takes great self-discipline. You have to put personalisms aside and learn to communicate constructively, clearly, without rudeness. We do that for our team spirit. And for a higher value: to contribute to the security of our country.

Well, this thought must be a guide for all the Italians in this moment: to remember that we stay home because there is no cure for Covid-19. This way, our isolation helps to avoid the contagion of others. In these weeks, Italy is proving to be a better country than I thought: there is solidarity, discipline, sacrifice for others “. In short, like the Navy submarines, we are all in the same boat.