Families of US sailors denounce Trump and Hegseth for ‘dismissing their experiences and calling them liars’
www.theguardian.com
One US sailor’s mother asks: ‘My son signed up to serve his country. But why isn’t his country serving him?’

They spoke of insufficient nourishment that has led to close relatives losing 20-30lbs in weight since they were sent to the Middle East five months ago, leaving one sailor “emaciated”, according to his mother.

They spoke also of low-quality drinking water and scarce mental health counseling and support despite the intense burden of being at sea for months on end without making land.

The USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier with more than 5,000 sailors and marines onboard, has been at sea for nearly nine months, having begun its deployment in November. There have been reports of multiple suicide attempts including jumping overboard.

When Trump was asked on Friday whether naval families were worried about conditions on board, he replied: “No, they’re not.” He said that the Lincoln’s deployment, now in its ninth month, was “not nearly long enough”.

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    3 hours ago

    In 2026 Republican trump’s Department of “War” starves our deploy troops.

    In 1943 Democratic President FDR during WWII had an entire ship that just made ice cream for sailors and deployed soldiers/Marines. This would circulate around the fleet of deployed troops to give them comfort and calories during their wartime deployment. This was in addition to larger warships that had ice cream creation facilities onboard.

    “This one ship was capable of 1500 gallons, five tons, a day. The American navy provided ice cream as a morale boost. In addition, all ships larger than a destroyer had ice cream facilities. It is reported that after the USS Lexington issued the order to abandon ship during the Battle of Midway in 1942, sailors on their way off, rushed by the ice cream bar and scooped some using their helmets. In another instance, in 1944 aboard the battleship USS New Jersey, two newly minted junior grade lieutenants pulled rank to cut into the ice cream line. Unfortunately for them, they tried cutting ahead of none other than Admiral Bull Halsey. Despite his rank, he was waiting in line with everyone else. The two officers got reprimanded in a way only Halsey could. Ice cream had become the great equalizer.”

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