Families of US sailors denounce Trump and Hegseth for ‘dismissing their experiences and calling them liars’
One US sailor’s mother asks: ‘My son signed up to serve his country. But why isn’t his country serving him?’
Naval families with loved ones deployed for months on US warships amid the Iran war have reacted with fury to Donald Trump and the defense secretary Pete Hegseth’s dismissal of their concerns about the extreme pressures and dire conditions they are enduring
The Guardian has talked to three naval families who have been following the physical and mental stresses bearing down on their relatives with mounting alarm. The families, with loved ones onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Tripoli, all spoke anonymously for fear of retribution against their active-duty relatives
They spoke of insufficient nourishment that has led to close relatives losing 20-30lb 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
US navy veterans and military health experts express concern over USS Abraham Lincoln sailors
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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 onboard, he replied: “No, they’re not.” He said that the Lincoln’s deployment, now in its ninth month, was “not nearly long enough”
Earlier, Hegseth also swatted away families’ concerns, saying that the reality onboard the Lincoln had been “completely misrepresented”
The sister of a Lincoln crew member in his late 30s said that the remarks made her want to grab Trump and Hegseth and shake them. “I grew up in a United States where you have to be very respectful of the military, as they’re making the ultimate sacrifice and protecting their country, and now you have the commander-in-chief and defense secretary dismissing their experiences and calling them liars. I’m really angry,” she said
She added: “It’s a feeling of betrayal. These are frustrating, false and careless comments, and they are going to have a lot of consequences for my brother.”
The mother of a sailor onboard the Lincoln in his early 20s said: “My son signed up to serve his country. But why isn’t his country serving him? They are not feeding him or supplying clean water, and living conditions are horrible. He didn’t sign up for that.”
The sister of the Lincoln crew member shared text messages she had received in recent days from her brother. In one he said that “the water is so bad that they took out the scuttlebutts”, referring to the drinking containers on the carrier
He also described the mental health services available to struggling sailors that are now stretched thin, saying a deployed resiliency counselor had quit months earlier, and that a wait to see the single available psychiatrist took five weeks
He added that a senior officer from Centcom, the US central command overseeing operations in the Middle East amid the ongoing US-Israel war with Iran, visited the Lincoln for two hours recently. “He made an interesting speech. It was all pretty good news and quite inspiring, until he reminded us that it’s not mental health it’s just health and we can simply exercise our brains to make ourselves happy.”
CNN has reported that among the multiple suicide attempts onboard the Lincoln, a sailor succeeded in going overboard earlier this month and had to be rescued by helicopter
The Guardian asked Centcom to explain the logistical challenges faced by US warships in theater in the course of the Iran war, but it did not respond
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The Wall Street Journal has reported that another aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, is being sent to replace the Lincoln
The Lincoln crew member’s sister said she would believe that the anguish was over when it actually happened. “We have heard it said before that they were going to be relieved, but the relief vessel got diverted to Guam.”
She said that in the months of deployment her brother had lost 20lb. An even more extreme picture was painted by the mother of a sailor onboard the USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship with 3,500 sailors and marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit onboard
The Tripoli was redeployed from its base in Sasebo, Japan, on 11 March, and returned to base last month. Over the five months of active deployment, the mother’s son lost more than 30lb in weight
The mother, herself a naval veteran with six years service, showed the Guardian photos of her child before and after deployment. Before he had a fleshy round face and muscular arms; after, in a photo in which he is seen holding a placard saying “The wait is over, welcome home daddy,” he is markedly skinny with thin arms and scrawny neck
“He’s emaciated,” the mother said. “This is so insane – he didn’t deserve this. When I saw that photo I was livid. It should not have gotten this far.”
She sent the Guardian screenshots of communications with her son while he was on active duty. “I need to make up weight,” he said in one. Asked how much weight, he replied: “Quite a bit. I’m not anorexic and my rib cage isn’t showing, but I’ve definitely lost weight. It’s been rough.”
“I’m running very low on energy. I am burnt out,” he said in a separate text
In a third, he said: “I eat when I can. My coworkers make sure everyone in our unit eats and we all try to share food whenever someone gets more than normal. Keep praying for us. We are doing our best to make sure we protect our country and our families.”
The mother said that her son had been on many deployments with the navy. This was the first time that he had ever indicated a lack of food and other basic supplies. “Something genuinely wrong has happened,” she said
As warships eventually return to base after historically long deployments in the Middle East, there are growing concerns about long-term consequences of inadequate supplies. Janessa Goldbeck, a Marine Corps veteran and CEO of the advocacy group Vet Voice Foundation, said that there was “longer-term damage to the sailors and marines serving, and their families waiting for them at home”
She added: “You cannot keep extending deployments, grinding down crews, and gaslighting families without destroying trust in the institution and its leaders.”
The Tripoli mother said she worried about how long it will take for her son to regain weight and strength. She fears his naval command might discipline him should he flunk upcoming fitness tests – which would be a punishment on top of punishment
“Our military deserve the best of the best,” she said. “They are fighting for our country, and the government has a duty to provide them with the basics. If they’re losing weight, that means you’re starving them.”
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