Synopsis: Carl Brashear lets nothing stand in the way of his dreams. The son of a Kentucky sharecropper, Carl leaves home for what he expects would be a better life. "Never quit ... be the best," his father had told him, and Carl takes those words to heart. After he joins the newly-integrated Navy, Carl... Carl Brashear lets nothing stand in the way of his dreams. The son of a Kentucky sharecropper, Carl leaves home for what he expects would be a better life. "Never quit ... be the best," his father had told him, and Carl takes those words to heart.

After he joins the newly-integrated Navy, Carl spends two years writing a hundred letters before the service accepts his application for its Dive School program. Carl's training officer, Billy Sunday, wants no part of Carl or his ambitions. Sunday, a celebrated Master Chief Navy Diver whose exploits as a troublemaker are as legendary as his accomplishments as a diver, relentlessly taunts and challenges Carl, expecting him to falter and quit. But Carl has other ideas. His goal is clear, his determination fixed. Nothing will stand in the way of his dream of becoming a Navy Diver. Not even Billy Sunday.

Years later, after Carl suffers a crippling injury, he and Sunday unexpectedly join forces. Never one to turn down an opportunity to flout the system, the rebellious senior officer helps Carl buck Navy bureaucracy, overcome the loss of a leg, and go on to make military history. By the time he retires, Carl earns the esteemed titles of Master Diver and Master Chief, the Navy's highest rank for an enlisted man. [More]