This piece originally ran in Raw Story.
Horrifically underqualified and monstrous Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth (It is not officially the War Department until Congress changes it) should never have been confirmed by the Senate, as demonstrated by the 51-50 confirmation vote, one that required V.P. JD Vance to vote Hegseth in. Even Mitch McConnell, along with Lisa Murkowski and a “concerned” Susan Collins, voted no. Mitch is on his way out but almost always votes party first, but not this time. Now, every other Republican Senator and Donald Trump are on the hook for allowing Hegseth’s mismanagement to all but kill our brave and committed sailors.
On November 21st last year, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln set sail from San Diego to the Middle East, prepared for war as it always is, but unaware of the oncoming issue with Iran, one that began February 28th of this year. Thus it is that the first shots fired from planes on the Lincoln occurred three months into its deployment, or roughly halfway before it would normally be scheduled to return to San Diego for rest, relief, repair, and restocking.
Now, someone in the Defense Department, and surely Hegseth as the ultimate authority, should have, the moment Trump ordered the military to unleash hell on Iran, made clear in the Pentagon, “Well, now we have to absolutely get ready to deal with the Lincoln as it approaches six months, maybe extend a month, but definitely have options there to get it back at that point. We need another one ready asap.” That only makes sense. And yet apparently no one did.
Perhaps even less defensible, reports state that not only is the carrier still at war – not just on duty, but war – nine months into this assignment, but has also been woefully undersupplied for months, a violation of an absolutely sacred duty. If you simply must have those sailors serve their country due to the inescapable aspects of war, with the action taking much longer than envisioned, then it is incumbent upon the richest nation to ever grace the planet, the one that spends well over a trillion a year on the Defense Department, to restock the massive floating city, at the very, very least.
And yet not only is the ship needing repairs, stinking more than usual due to lack of maintenance regarding plumbing issues, among many others, but the food is running out at a rate that is becoming unsafe. Taken all together, the assignment, the stress, and the lack of care have all led to the worst problem: the exceedingly dangerous environment now causing severe mental health concerns, concerns so undeniable that it is unforgivable that Hegseth still serves in his position.
Sailors have been saved at the last minute just prior to jumping ship, something that unequivocably represents a suicide attempt. As everyone knows, no one jumps from a massive carrier into the ocean and lives, and even if someone did live, the massive injuries incurred would drown them in minutes.
As reported by the Military Times, “Annabelle Loma has spoken with her husband only a few times since he attempted to jump overboard from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during his current deployment.” It is heartbreaking: “He’s scared. He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year career is ruined, just like that. That’s not fair, that’s not right.” No, it’s not. And it wouldn’t be right if he was the only one, except he’s not.
Thirteen years in, having built up significant retirement accounts and skills, taken away due to serious illness? Horrific to consider. (An illness is an illness; mental illness is now accepted as real, debilitating, and not a “fault.”)
In yet another incident, a sailor on watch saw a shipmate preparing to go overboard, and intervened. The on-the-spot hero “called out to the sailor before reaching the individual and grabbing their arms, pulling them onto the deck.” Three others heard the commotion and came running to help. We are so thankful help was there.
It might be even worse because the Navy won’t release the number of suicide attempts or serious self-harm incidents. Given we know of at least two, the silence regarding the total number might indicate an even bigger problem. All but unbelievable.
Since the second attempt, families have been calling the Navy in fury, terrified of the stress inundating their loved ones and the sailors’ degrading mental and physical health. Few of them complain- tough families- but some of them must also be endangered themselves due to the worry about their family member as well as their own stress living without them.
Unacceptable. Outrageous. And, again, unforgivable.
But the Navy has a fix on the way! Except maybe not. It is preparing the USS Theodore Roosevelt, a carrier to relieve the Lincoln. But the Navy has not provided a timeline, citing operational security.
Bullshit. “Operational security”? There is an aircraft carrier patrolling the area. Announcing when the replacement is coming means nothing about nothing to Iran. It is not like the new carrier has double super secret tricks to win the war. And even if it did, telling the Iranians it’s on the way might help bring an end to everything.
Those of us who’ve never been on anything bigger than a bass boat have enough common sense to know that if the Navy is dealing with suicide attempts, there are many other moderate-level mental illness concerns that need evaluation. Other problems extend right on down to running out of sandwiches and blocked toilets, and they don’t even know the date on which they’ll get relief, nor when these problems might get fixed, even at sea.
In other words, the situation is not getting better any time soon.
People need to lose their jobs over this. But Hegseth, the man ultimately in charge, is apparently too busy firing brown people, women, and members of our LGBTQ community. Evidently, he doesn’t have time to address any of this. He is the one who needs to be thrown overboard, so to speak.
There are very few presidential and cabinet-level duties that by nature rise to the degree as to be called sacred. And this critical duty surely must encompass taking the best care of our active military members and veterans suffering from related issues. When the price of just one B-2 Stealth Bomber is $2.1B, the fact that the ship lacks even some of the most basic supplies offends those of us who lack the bravery to even serve.
Nearly everyone reading this column who, upon learning that some crew members were getting half a cup of rice and two tortillas as “meals,” and having a trillion-dollar budget at our disposal, would order 24-hour shifts and full speed ahead until a supply ship or ships plural set sail to at least relieve the food situation.
“But we don’t have any ships available, sir.”
“Then F-ing buy one! I want a ship, find one, buy one, rent one, steal one, just a regular big cargo ship. And then fill it. I don’t care if you have to make the biggest Costco run in history; get the stuff. I don’t care if we have to do an airlift with a dozen planes to Qatar and dock for 24 hours to load it. If it’s not done by Friday, no one needs to come in Monday because they’re already terminated.”
Everyone reading this would surely make the same order. But on Wednesday, Hegseth was busying himself in Panama, speaking at the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (“Shield of the Americas”) forum while our sailors at war are becoming severely mentally ill, perhaps partly due to running out of food and a newsworthy stench due to a newsworthy plumbing issue, Hegseth’s mind was on gunning down drug runners delivering whatever, as if those bombs will solve anything.
How difficult would it be to say to “someone” at the Pentagon? “Find 50 plumbers in Virginia, draft them into temporary service with very good pay, fly them to Qatar, and helicopter them to the ship, fix the shit – literally – to at least show we care about the sailors enough to fix that issue.”
Instead, he also found time to yank the security clearance from Frank Kendall, President Biden’s Air Force Secretary, perhaps for complaining about how this administration manages this war.
This one is easy. This is entirely on Hegseth, and since he has had ample notice of the problem – that carrier dinghy has been out there nearly nine months, ample time to come up with solutions- we’ve almost lost some of our best people, not from an Iranian bomb, but due to stress, depression, and other mental illness concerns. Trump needs to fire Hegseth yesterday.
And because Trump likely won’t, despite being the Commander in Chief and being the one truly at the top to order this fixed – without doing so, he needs to be fired, too. That won’t happen. He won’t be fired despite worrying more about the useless “battleships” named after him than getting some sirloins, baked potatoes, and Cesar salad to our sailors, or at least cheeseburgers, fixing the toilets, getting one of our other ten (!) carriers to the region, and diagnosing life-threatening illnesses of our sailors, physical or mental. They should be flying them home for treatment no different than had they lost a leg in combat, with no different consequences.
Managing military strategy and deployment can often seem so complicated as to be beyond comprehension. This isn’t one. This seems like one any reader can fix. The only requirement is the empathy needed to solve the situation.
Hegseth apparently doesn’t care enough. It is time to put him through some stress concerning a job, be fired for dereliction of duty or reckless endangerment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice if done through the Pentagon, or at least fined for one of the biggest OSHA violations of all time if a civil matter.
Our expectations are never higher than when the duty is sacred. Such a matter requires the most sensitive of study, the most intense focus on resulting problems, the commitment to go insane themselves, and screaming at people to fix this or they be the ones discharged. Such a person must also have the ability to talk to families, assure them they care, that the matters will be addressed immediately, and apologies extended.
Simply unforgivable. The easiest case for termination ever.
Jason Miciak is a Raw Story Columnist, former editor of Occupy Democrats, author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent girldad. Please follow on Bluesky, and he can be reached at [email protected], and he appreciates comments or thoughts below.
