In a Wednesday letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., demanded answers to reports that approximately 5,000 men and women aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier have been stuck in the Persian Gulf with “shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns, and disruptions in the mail system.”
Blumenthal’s mention of “deteriorating mental health” follows reports from the Military Times and Stars and Stripes that multiple sailors have tried to jump off the USS Lincoln. During their almost nine months at sea, those aboard the carrier have faced Iranian drone and missile attacks and have had inexcusably poor logistical support.
Blumenthal’s mention of “deteriorating mental health” follows reports that multiple sailors have tried to jump off the USS Lincoln.
But in keeping with the Trump administration’s pattern of gaslighting and denial, Hegseth has claimed, with zero evidence, that stories about Navy personnel being so mentally and physically exhausted that they’ve tried to harm themselves have “completely misrepresented” the conditions aboard the carrier.
Hegseth is following President Donald Trump’s lead. When news broke at the start of the war that the U.S. had struck an Iranian girls’ school during its initial bombardment of Iran, the president immediately claimed, with zero evidence, that an Iranian missile had killed the more than 170 girls and their teachers. That wasn’t true. A U.S. strike, one that, according to a preliminary inquiry, may have been an egregious targeting error that relied on old intelligence, was to blame.
Trump’s irresponsible and unconstitutional war against Iran has killed 18 service members and left more than 600 physically injured. Indeed, they have tried to downplay those casualties. In the present case, the president and defense secretary also want us to ignore reports that their awful choices have caused and are continuing to cause significant mental health harm and moral injury to our military personnel.
The more this administration denies and deflects, the more the American people should stand up and pay attention. Because the stakes are enormous. Any mounting mental health crisis among deployed service members would be troubling in and of itself, given the lifelong effect trauma can have on Americans who volunteer for military service (plus the knock-on community effects, such as a disproportionate number of veterans in the unhoused population and incarcerated veterans).
And preventable military mental health injury is known to have significant ripple effects, including negatively affecting a service member’s ability to carry on the mission as effectively as possible, increasing family members’ suffering at home, affecting near- and long-term recruiting and giving America’s enemies the satisfaction that we are hurting ourselves.
The U.S. spends more on its military than the next six nations behind us. That makes it particularly inexcusable that a war of choice seems to have set our service members up for preventable suffering. Of course, fighting wars is hard, and those in uniform always will shoulder the most direct impact, but good leaders consider the effect of their decisions on service members and do everything possible to ensure not only adequate defenses from threats such as missile and drone attacks but also appropriate logistical support to those in harm’s way.
Sadly, reports of deteriorating conditions on U.S. ships are not new and not unique to the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Sadly, reports of deteriorating conditions on U.S. ships are not new and not unique to the USS Abraham Lincoln. Significant logistical failures aboard the Lincoln and other warships deployed to the Persian Gulf have been reported since the start of this rushed conflict, and despite ample time to fix those failures, such reports continue. Reports of lack of fresh food aboard those ships first surfaced in April when sailors were writing family members about the lack of food and that care packages from home were not reaching their destination. The Navy labeled such reports “false.” There were also reports of operational and logistical dysfunction, including a fire on the USS Gerald Ford during its longest deployment since the Vietnam War.
We must ask why it’s taking reports of service members desperately jumping off their aircraft carrier for the administration to finally commit to sending a replacement carrier. The USS George Washington is reportedly on its way, but even that exchange that will likely take many more weeks to carry out.
It seems reasonable to conclude that reports of our service members’ ongoing injuries not only stem from poor initial planning for a rushed war but also by the administration’s operating culture of denying and hiding problems. Gaslighting and blaming the media are hallmarks of Trump and Hegseth. But problems are only resolved when they are acknowledged and dealt with openly. Instead of honestly dealing with valid complaints about living conditions on our vessels, this administration from the start has chosen evasiveness. The Pentagon issued guidance to military communities during the first full week of the war to avoid engaging with the media.
Instead of being honest with the American people and with the millions of service members he is responsible for, Hegseth has spent time focusing on testosterone testing; fighting diversity, equity and inclusion; and removing women from promotion lists and bringing attention to other contrived manosphere concerns. Meanwhile, American troops in harm’s way continue to suffer.
But families of those serving aren’t having it. When senior Navy leaders met with family members this week and insisted that “we are as a nation doing the best we can,” those family members angrily shouted back “no.” No, this is definitely not the best America can do, and it’s high time the Pentagon stopped focusing on fringe culture war issues and started doing its job of taking care of those who take care of America.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
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