- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- news@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- news@lemmy.world
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”.
Six months times around 30 days in a month times three meals per day is 540 packets of ramen noodles. My maruchan beef (flavored) packet says 370 calories per packet, so that’s 1110 calories or so per day, for six months, in a war zone. Press X to doubt.
Hyperbole is fine in some contexts, but that’s not enough calories to operate with, and you’d have gotten diseases from malnutrition. You supplemented that all-ramen diet with something, likely ratfucking MREs as you felt like it since you’re too good to eat one and call it a meal, AND you had access to a chef (hyperbole)!
Reports are starting to trickle in that the drinking water is dirty/tainted with oil and there’s not enough to drink/bathe/clean. I’ve read comments that suggest some percentage of the people on the ship are bedridden. No parts to repair the thing that was broken yesterday, the day before, last week, last month means no parts and the thing stays broken. Extend that to all the little systems on a ship in a hot/humid area, and yeah, things are probably looking worse than being marooned on an island.
It’s a little immaterial anyway. The job of getting the ship headed back home is done. The questions about how the people in charge evidently didn’t plan for that deployment, didn’t see this coming, didn’t listen to reports while it was happening, had to bend to media pressure to get it fixed, and had to weaken US positions in other areas in the world to adjust are still valid and unanswered. The people on the Lincoln aren’t going to stop existing now. You can’t keep them locked on the boat for six more months in port to put back on 40 pounds of bodyweight in some cases, and everywhere else there will be cameras. You can’t expect everyone to lie forever.
And, yet again, this easily avoidable situation with an easily predictable outcome carried out by the world’s best logistics operation is bringing up questions about what else isn’t being done that we’re just not hearing about?
One wonders if the worst sailors, the ones who said things publicly, are gonna get transferred to another ship to get Libertied. I can see Israel doing that again to help cover things up. I can also see us sinking our own destroyer or cruiser or supply ship off Cuba to justify THAT war. Two birds, one stone. A little tinfoil-y, but I’m long past putting much above this administration.
I don’t see that happening. It’ll be like what happened with the Ford where it quietly goes into maintenance. Maybe the crew doesn’t get medals because of the attention they drew.