The USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been participating in U.S. military operations in the war with Iran, is now on its way home. The roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard that ship have spent a grueling nine months at sea with little relief.
Reports have emerged of deteriorating conditions — and of deteriorating mental health, including apparent attempts by crewmembers to jump overboard. The Navy has not confirmed those reports, and NPR has not independently verified them. "A small number of mental health cases were treated with no loss of life," acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said in a statement last week.
Experts say that while the physical circumstances are difficult, a lack of careful and consistent messaging from leadership at the highest levels also contributed to the crews' mental distress.
The USS Lincoln is like a small city, according to Armen Kurdian, a retired U.S. Navy captain who served aboard the aircraft carrier in 2005. The labor aboard the carrier, he says, can be uniquely physical and difficult.
" It takes a toll on your body," says Kurdian. "The plane captains are out there on the flight deck — you know, these 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds lugging these 100-pound chains on their backs in 120-degree weather."
He describes dehydration and exhaustion as pilots have to take off and land on the carriers, sometimes at night and in bad weather, and "then just being mentally prepared to go fly because lives are at stake."
In the off-hours, Kurdian says there is little to no privacy, with people sleeping in crowded quarters.
While difficult, these conditions can be bearable, he adds. But experts say once uncertainty is thrown into this equation, it can push people to their mental brink.
Jack Stuster is a retired behavioral scientist who spent decades studying human performance.
"In conditions of isolation and confinement," says Stuster, "one of the worst things that you could do to the person is to tell them they're gonna come home at a certain time, and then you say, 'No. It's gonna be delayed.'"
Return is overdue
The Abraham Lincoln's deployment was originally scheduled to end in May.
In addition to the Navy, Stuster worked with NASA and scientists operating in small groups in places like Greenland, where return flights home were often canceled at the very last moment — even after their would-be passengers had dragged their duffle bags right up to the flight line.
" People have described to me going out there for the third time … only to be told that it wasn't gonna happen," says Stuster, which caused them "to break down in tears."
Then there's the issue of duration. A three-month deployment is ideal, says Stuster, or even six. At nine months, he says, things start to become untenable.
Dr. Phillip Hunt was, for years, a Navy physician who deployed on several submarine missions. His background is in emergency medicine, but Hunt says that in the Navy, much of what he treated was mental health. " I was kind of the father confessor, psychologist, what have you," says Hunt.
With a crew of 5,000 people on a ship, Hunt says it's inevitable that some people will struggle with mental health — even in the best of deployment conditions. "You'd have guys getting anxious. You'd have guys getting depressed."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says reports of poor conditions aboard the Lincoln are overstated. President Trump recently called the deployment "not nearly long enough."
Hunt says a lack of certainty or reassurance from leadership at the highest levels can trickle down to impact everyone's mental well-being. "Denial of this unit's deteriorating operational conditions is highly detrimental to the crew's morale," says Hunt. "The result can include anger, anxiety, or eventually mental exhaustion and depression."
Hunt says he blames leadership at the highest levels for the lack of recognition of this hardship.
" I just, I feel so badly for that crew. It's just tragic," says Hunt. "Just thinking about them almost brings me to tears."
If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, please call or text the number 9-8-8 to connect with a counselor.
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