Still Not Home
Thanks again to Katie Phang who posted our interview from earlier this week and I wanted to follow up. I really appreciated being able to talk with Katie about what happened on the USS Lincoln, and as I said in a recent article, we haven’t seen this before, in 250 years. The interview is in the link below.
I looked up the status of the remaining 7 vessels accompanying the USS Lincoln and found this;
The Navy announced the return of the USS Abraham Lincoln following a challenging nine-month deployment. However, the accompanying destroyers—the USS Frank E. Petersen Jr., USS Michael Murphy, and USS Spruance—remain deployed in the region with no specified orders or relief.
The leaders said the carrier and its Marines and Sailors would head home, but the Navy didn’t say if the Sailors on the escort destroyers would be relieved. These guided-missile destroyers have faced the same long periods at sea, supply shortages, and missed port visits as the main carrier since late 2025. The USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group arrived in the Middle East to take over operations, but it’s still not clear if the escort ships will be redeployed.
The same questions remain; do they have food or water? Do they have working toilets or laundry rooms? Do they have toothpaste, deodorant, body soap, of hygiene products? Do they have internet to communicate with their families? Do they have mental health on board?
We have little to no information on the mental health care aboard the USS Lincoln or any of the other vessels still serving near Iran. We have no information about the skill level of providers on any carrier or supporting vessels. They could have a Bachelors degree, or not. A Masters or a Doctorate or not. Has anyone else tried jumping overboard?
There is no doubt in my mind that the remaining Sailors and Marines are being coerced into silence or possibly face punishment. We only know about the conditions of the USS Lincoln because of Sailors and Marines telling family members in texts or video recordings. The wife of the Sailor who jumped overboard was not told for 5 days… This was unheard of when I was the wife of a Sailor.
I was reminded recently that ships previously had embedded reporters on these deployments, in “the way back times”, to ensure accountability. Captains or Admirals had nothing to hide before this administration came along.
The message from me is clear; this Admin could be viewed as having no remorse or empathy, no leadership skills, no regard for any Active Duty Service Member, and no plan. There is still no stated goal or end game. Not only are the Sailors and Marines suffering from mental illness, but it’s been well-documented and repeatedly written that people in our leadership are questionable as well.