Navy meets with USS Abraham Lincoln families over mental health worries

Navy leadership has reportedly met with the family members of sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier over worries that the ongoing Middle East deployment will lead to worsening mental health and the risk of self-harm aboard the vessel.

At an in-person meeting with an estimated 200 attendees on Thursday in San Diego, family members spoke to Hung Cao, acting Navy secretary; Vice Adm. Douglas Verissimo, head of the Naval Air Forces; and Vice Adm. Joseph Cahill, commander of the Naval Surface Forces; among other officials.

All but Cao also attended an online video call, Stars and Stripes reported.

The family members told heart-wrenching stories to the Navy leaders, with one spouse accusing them of “broken trust between us and the leadership,” two individuals who attended told the outlet. Another spouse tearfully told officials that her husband had messaged her that same day saying “he hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow.”

While officials at the meeting did not directly respond to that or similar statements, they assured family members that sailors aboard the aircraft carrier had access to mental health workers, chaplains and doctors, and that the Navy was working to send more mental health professionals to the ship, according to Stars and Stripes.

“Leadership is continuously conducting assessments to monitor and sustain the psychological readiness of every sailor,” the Navy said in a statement to the outlet on Monday. 

Morale is waning aboard the Abraham Lincoln due to an exhausting deployment which so far has included 40 days of continuous combat operations in support of the Iran war and 250 consecutive days at sea. At least one crew member was prevented from jumping overboard, and there are reports of suicidal thoughts. 

The unusually grueling timeline is due to the aircraft carrier being redirected to the Middle East in January after leaving San Diego in November for a Pacific deployment. Originally scheduled to return in May, the ship has now been deployed for more than eight months with no publicly announced return date. 

The roughly 5,000 service members aboard also have dealt with food and water shortages and little time off, with the typical port calls every 30 to 45 days falling by the wayside, according to family members and sailors.

“Nothing to really look forward to at this point,” one sailor told Stars and Stripes, noting that morale is currently so low that service members on the vessel are willing to skip any upcoming stops to return home as soon as possible.

“My son is currently on that ship and listening to him say that he and his shipmates constantly think about jumping off the ship just for relief is so hard to listen to,” one parent told Stars and Stripes in July. 

Navy leadership, meanwhile, said it was committed to “listening to our families, supporting our servicemembers, and ensuring the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group has the resources needed to safely and successfully accomplish its mission.”