Families of sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Tripoli pushed back on Friday after Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth dismissed complaints about life aboard the ship, saying loved ones at sea for months were losing weight, struggling to get clean water and waiting too long for mental health help.
The dispute landed while the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier with more than 5,000 sailors and marines, has been at sea for nearly nine months, far longer than the five months some families said their relatives have spent in the Middle East. One mother said her son had become emaciated; another family member said sailors had lost 20-30lbs since deployment began in November.
The families spoke anonymously to and described a deployment shaped by shortages that went beyond discomfort. They said drinking water quality was low, mental health counseling was scarce and, in some cases, support had become hard to reach at all. One crew member said the water was so bad that the scuttlebutts were taken out. Another said the deployment resilience counsellor quit months ago, leaving the only psychiatrist with a five-week wait unless sailors jumped off the ship or took 27 sleeping pills.
That is why Trump’s dismissal stung so hard. He said naval families were not worried about conditions on board and said the Lincoln’s deployment was not nearly long enough. Hegseth said the reality on the Lincoln had been completely misrepresented. A sister of one crew member said they were being called liars even as they watched their relatives struggle, and a mother said her son signed up to serve his country but was not being fed or supplied clean water. The same family member said a senior officer from Centcom had visited the ship for two hours recently, then left without changing what sailors were living through.
The complaints now sit on top of an unresolved question that the public remarks did not answer: what, if anything, changes aboard the ship after families say the problems have already cost sailors weight, water and access to care. With the deployment continuing and reports of multiple suicide attempts, including jumping overboard, the gap between the official line and the families’ accounts is not narrowing.
