Pentagon downplays reports of bad conditions on USS Abraham Lincoln.

 

The USS Abraham Lincoln. Fox News/Reuters.

The Pentagon has downplayed reports of bad conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has set modern records for length of deployment. Fox News. The Lincoln has been deployed for 260 days in support for the Iran conflict  and has faced allegations of plumbing issues, supply shortages and even crew members threatening to jump off the ship. However, the Pentagon says that the Lincoln's mental health issues are among the lowest in the carrier fleet. CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said that many of the issues that had been reported, like the plumbing issues and food quality, have been fixed for some time. Long sea deployments are challenging, Cooper claims, but credited the ships petty officers for focusing on mental health. The Lincoln is now heading back to port and will be replaced by the USS George Washington. 

My Comment:

For context, in World War II, the USS Essex was deployed for 495 days and participated in several massive battles, including the battles of the Philippines Sea, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Operation Ten-Go, the Japanese attack that ended with the destruction of the Yamato, the biggest battleship ever made. Other carriers and other US Navy ships faced similar lengths of deployment overseas.

Marines and Soldiers might be confused by the complaints as well. In Vietnam the US Army required a 12 month deployment while the Marines faced a 13 month one. And in Iraq and Afghanistan? The Army still required a 9 to 12 month deployment while the Marines often did 6 to 9 months. And unlike the Lincoln, they faced enemy fire and extremely poor conditions. I know if I had the choice of where to serve, I'd rather be a Sailor on the Lincoln over a Marine or Soldier any day of the week. 

That isn't to denigrate or downplay the service of the Sailors and Marines, they have conducted their deployment with honor and do have my praise. But context is important and it's clear that folks are exaggerating just how bad things are. Indeed, the people deployed on the Lincoln are mostly likely just griping. 

Did the Lincoln have issues during this deployment? Of course. From what I understand the plumbing issues were serious and the did have to operate at a high during the Iran conflict. And by modern standards the deployment is long, 9 months at sea is longer than the modern US Navy is used to. Though the ship never came under fire, carrier work is dangerous and so is just going to sea. The air wing especially had a high tempo deployment and I bet they need a break. 

Are there mental health problems on this deployment? Sure, but that's true for every military deployment. Indeed, folks go postal or harm themselves during leave and on base as well. Are they worse than normal because of the long deployment? CENTCOM says otherwise and it's very possible they are right. 

I think the real difference now is that Sailors and Marines are able to contact home very easily. I guarantee that the USS Essex had similar issues during it's 495 day deployment but the general public never heard about it because they didn't have any way to contact home other than highly censored mail. Now anyone on the Lincoln can call their parents and gripe and many of those parents don't really know the reality of deployments. 

Has the Trump administration handled this well? Not really. Trump put his foot in his mouth, as he is wont to do, by saying the deployment should be even longer, which the media, of course, latched onto. I kind of see his point, I doubt that the USS George Washington would be pulled out of the Pacific if it wasn't for this bad press, but it's not something he needed to say. 

I do think there is something to be said for the fact that we only really have three carriers deployed right now, the Lincoln, the Washington and the Bush. The other eight are in port, either being repaired, upgraded, refueling or in training. I know that having large numbers of ships down for those reasons, but that seems like a lot. Usually we have 2-4 deployed but given the active conflict with Iran, you would think that more of them would be deployed.