> cleaning toilets on submarines

I don't get it. All US submarines are nuclear. Serving on a nuclear sub is an honor granted to few. Sure, you'll get to clean toilets sometimes. So what? If you join the Navy, you want to fight wars. Since WW1 wars were won with machines. Artillery, machine guns, tanks, airplanes, ships, submarines. Submariners in particular pretty much won the war in the Pacific. If the US gets into a war, especially one with China, the subs will make a huge difference. And maybe it's because of them that the US will actually not get into a war with China.

A sailor on a nuclear sub makes as much of a difference to the war fighting capability of the US as a Seal, if not more.