Pete Hegseth has no idea what he’s doing
Earlier today, wearing a slim-cut blue blazer and a blue-and-white striped dress shirt, with the upper buttons stretched wide open, the Secretary of Defense stood beside the guided-missile destroyer USS Gridley, docked in Panama, and slammed down reports spreading about truly troubling conditions aboard U.S. Navy ships in the Middle East. Speaking to gathered reporters, Pete Hegseth insisted that reports of poor conditions aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln were “completely misrepresented.” But the sailors aboard that ship are sharing something completely different. They have already had their deployment to the Middle East extended multiple times. Food is reportedly getting dangerously low, and mental health and morale have collapsed to the point that sailors are reportedly jumping from the ship rather than spend even another minute aboard under what had become deplorable conditions.
When the USS Abraham Lincoln left San Diego on November 21st of last year, sailors and their families were told it would be a routine seven-month Pacific deployment. In January, the carrier was redirected to the Middle East as Donald Trump prepared for his war with Iran. It has been stationed in the Arabian Sea ever since. The seven-month deployment turned into nine months away from home.
The crew of more than 5,000 sailors and Marines has been aboard that ship every single day since they left San Diego, except for only two days when they went onto dry land. They stopped in Guam in December, however, many sailors were not allowed to leave the ship. The other time was in Oman just a few weeks ago in July, where those who could get off were confined to a secure compound inside the port. Typically, carriers pull into port every 30 to 45 days for maintenance, rest, and supply replenishment. The Lincoln went 208 consecutive days at sea without a single day in port, which is much longer than any aircraft carrier in the modern era. It wasn’t just about being out to sea so long, though. The crew has also spent five straight months in near-constant combat operations. One sailor described what that feels like: “We’ve just been turning and burning the whole time we’ve deployed. Nothing to really look forward to at this point.”
Families have described food shortages so severe that one sailor told his mother his meal was “half a cup of rice and two tortillas.” Those onboard have described the conditions as having moldy showers, broken toilets, inoperable laundry facilities, and weeks without hot water. Sailors have run out of toothpaste, deodorant, and soap, and are standing in line for more than an hour at the ship’s store only to find the necessities they desperately need unavailable. Care packages sent from home have been lost in transit for months. Mail has simply stopped arriving. A Navy veteran whose son is serving aboard the Lincoln said what so many of us are thinking: “It’s the most dangerous place in the world already, and now you’re grinding it out, day in and day out, with no breaks. It’s an environment that’s ripe for accidents.”
Now we are hearing some truly heartbreaking reports of just what this has done to these service members. Multiple sailors aboard the Lincoln have tried to jump overboard. Annabelle Loma, the wife of one sailor, told the Military Times that her husband is now on medical hold after attempting to jump from the carrier. He had been repeatedly overextended before he broke. She said he is terrified that his career is over because he was pushed past the point a human being can endure. “He’s scared,” she said. “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.”
Maria Rodriguez shared another incident where she said her husband grabbed a fellow sailor by the arms and pulled him back onto the deck as he was preparing to go over the side. Three other sailors heard the struggle and came running.
CNN confirmed today that it has gone even further. On August 3rd, a sailor actually went overboard. He was in the water for nearly an hour before he was rescued by a helicopter. The Navy described it as a mental health episode. His wife told MS NOW in an exclusive interview today that the Navy did not contact her for four days. She only found out because a friend of her husband’s on the ship sent her a message. She accused the Navy of trying to cover it up. That is how the military now operates under Pete Hegseth’s leadership. Instead of jumping in to help, they want to pretend it isn’t happening.
Here in my hometown of San Diego, 200 family members packed themselves into a banquet room at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego to confront Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao and other senior officials last week. Spouses were very emotional, and one went so far as to accuse Navy leadership of “broken trust between us and the leadership.” Another told officials that her husband had messaged her that same day saying he “hopes he does not wake up tomorrow.” One parent said her daughter believed she was never going to come home and that she would die aboard the ship. Another woman questioned the mission itself, saying she found it difficult to be proud of her sailor because she believed the military was killing innocent civilians. Those in attendance clapped for her. Bonnie York, a stepmother of another sailor aboard the Lincoln, said the ship’s own doctor or therapist warned that they needed to get back on dry land soon, or people were going to start losing their minds.
Pete Hegseth’s was just to say it was “completely misrepresented.” He did not address the food shortages or the water contamination. He did not vow to fix the broken toilets, soap shortages, mold in the showers, or the mail that they have struggled to move for months now. What he did do was to tell reporters, “We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment.”
He then mentioned that the United States could maintain this blockade “indefinitely.” Even after everything being reported with the suffering of our military and their families, he thought saying it could go on forever was the best way to reassure the American people that they were addressing the crisis.
This isn’t even the first time Hegseth has dismissed what is happening on the Lincoln. In April, when families first reported food shortages with photos showing half-empty trays with slabs of a gray meat-like product being served to the crew, Hegseth called it “fake news” on social media. The Navy has continued to deny there were any shortages and noted that the crew was “resilient.” Here we are, four months later, and that same crew is trying to actually jump off the ship.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Armed Services Committee, sent a letter this week to Hegseth and to Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, demanding answers to questions on the deployment extensions and their toll on the crew. He wrote that there have been “widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns, and disruptions in the mail system,” and asked for assurances that the Navy can sustain Donald Trump’s war in Iran.
Senator Ruben Gallego called for a bipartisan congressional delegation to visit the Lincoln, saying there is no reason to deny access. Senator Cory Booker stated, “We cannot claim to support the troops while leaving them hungry.” Senator Mark Kelly, a former Navy captain who flew 39 combat missions and a retired NASA astronaut, called the reports “disturbing” and said that long deployments are hard, but “they are a lot harder when the mission isn’t well defined, and there is no end in sight.”
The pressure must be working, because we also learned that the Pentagon is now sending the aircraft carrier USS George Washington from the Pacific toward the Middle East to relieve the Lincoln. This is good news for all on that ship, but it also means the Navy’s only forward-deployed carrier out of the Pacific will no longer be there, leaving a large area without a carrier for an undetermined period of time, at a moment when the modern world has never been this insatiable.
This is the human cost of this presidency, with real people hurting. We are watching some of our bravest Americans suffering. These are people who understand sacrifice better than most of us ever will, who volunteered to defend this country. They gave up years of higher pay in the civilian world. They missed their children’s birthdays, their first steps, their school plays and so much more. They left behind spouses who held everything together alone, who learned to sleep in empty beds and answer hard questions from kids who just wanted to know when Mom or Dad was coming home. They did all of this because they believed in something bigger than themselves. And in return, they were sent into a war without a plan to make sure their most basic needs would be met.
What is happening is wrong. Our military deserves better. They deserve leaders with experience and who are capable of winning the wars they start, and better yet, not launching into unnecessary wars without Congress’s and allied countries’ support. If you know a military family in your community, reach out. Ask how they are doing. Ask if they need help with groceries or help with anything else. These spouses are holding their families together alone, some of them for nine months and counting, and many of them are afraid to ask for help because the culture tells them to be strong and stay quiet. We can be part of that change.
If you are near a military base, look into local organizations that support military families. Groups like the Armed Services YMCA, Blue Star Families, and Operation Homefront do real, tangible work, providing meals, financial assistance, and community support to families whose loved ones are deployed. You can volunteer your time and/or your money. These organizations are especially critical right now, so let’s all do what we can to support them.
We can also contact our representatives and demand that they act. That’s our members of Congress and senators. We need them to know that this is unacceptable, that the conditions aboard the Lincoln are a disgrace, and that every elected leader, regardless of party, should be demanding accountability, transparency, and an immediate plan to bring these sailors home and to make sure it never happens again.
There is no simply partisan argument for what is happening on that ship. There is no version of “supporting the troops” that treats them this way. I still remember all of those yellow bows and ribbons we tied everywhere during the Gulf War in the early 90’s. They were symbols of pride, hope, and patriotism that let our service members and their families know that we support them.
This is our time to prove that we really care. This is the moment when we don’t just demand better, we actually hold our elected officials accountable for what is happening.
In the middle of this latest chaos and crisis, we saw a beam of light break through in an unexpected place. Military families spoke out. That is not an easy thing to do. Military spouses understand better than most that speaking publicly about conditions on a deployed ship carries real weight and breaks multiple unwritten rules. There are real concerns about what it could mean for a spouse’s career, the next assignment, or the next promotion. And yet they are doing it anyway, even giving their real names. They are telling their stories to reporters, and because of them, the George Washington is on its way.
Nicole Conrad, a mother of a sailor on the Lincoln, voted for Trump. But she told MS NOW that he “put our nose in a war that we shouldn’t be in.” She told Hegseth to go visit the ship himself. “If you want to sit here and you want to say that Trump is taking care of the soldiers, go yourself.”
Nobody is looking away from what is happening. Even Trump’s most loyal fans are not happy about what is happening to our military members, and they are starting to see who is responsible for all of these terrible things happening. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.
I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather
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This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.
Picture of the day: My youngest and I went to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and had such a great time. We saw this newborn from the tram while listening to our guide talk about how the consequences of war reach far beyond humans. Animals and entire ecosystems are impacted, too. He gently reminded us that we don’t have to keep living through such destructive times, and that the entire world, humans and animals alike, would benefit from greater peace and stability. I wholeheartedly agree.
Sources used in the writing of this post:
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/13/politics/uss-abraham-lincoln-conditions-extended-deployment-hnk
https://www.ms.now/news/conditions-safety-uss-lincoln-iran-war
https://www.ms.now/news/navy-meeting-san-diego-uss-lincoln
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/6028091-pete-hegseth-uss-abraham-lincoln-conditions-middle-east/
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/6028854-george-washington-replaces-abraham-lincoln/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uss-abraham-lincoln-democratic-senators-inquiry-demand/
https://www.thedailybeast.com/families-rage-at-trump-over-american-forces-aboard-uss-lincoln/
https://www.ms.now/news/uss-lincoln-conditions-pete-hegseth-iran-war
https://www.newsweek.com/uss-abraham-lincoln-deployment-sailors-overboard-safety-concerns-12312965
https://news.usni.org/2025/11/24/uss-abraham-lincoln-quietly-deploys-from-san-diego
Hegseth comments from Panama: Facebook Video
Absolutely disgraceful; first, to allow these conditions, but more to lie about it and deny all these peoples’ pain. Horrible. But thank you, Heather, again, and for including the photographs.
Thank you for sharing this story. Our brave service members don’t deserve this treatment. It’s all down to a lack of planning and strategic thought as to the logistics of a war with no forethought and no skilled leadership. Send trumpet and Kegsbreath out there for 3 weeks and see how they like living on a ship with little food, no bathing or laundry facilities and only 4-5 hours sleep each night. Bravo to these military families for standing up snd speaking out.