The mental health breakdown aboard the U.S.S. Lincoln as President Donald Trump’s Iran war drags on is reaching the breaking point, Pentagon reporter Priya Sridhar told MS NOW’s Katy Tur on Wednesday.
“Heartbreaking” reports have been flooding in about sailors jumping, or trying to jump, off the side of the vessel as their conditions and psyches deteriorate, she noted — and they “feel like there’s no end in sight.”
“This young woman who I spoke to said that her husband has been expressing to her that he’s been struggling with this deployment for several months, basically since the middle of the deployment,” said Sridhar.
An aircraft mechanic on the vessel, her husband “notified his chain of command multiple times and went to the medical team saying that he was having suicidal ideations, but they were basically dismissed.” The Navy didn’t confirm to her that he was the sailor who went overboard for nearly a week.
“She also shared with me the last text message that he sent to her prior to him jumping off the ship. And I want to read part of it to you,” Sridhar continued. “He basically said, ‘I think the boat is finally getting to me, and I really don’t think I can keep up my peace act anymore. You are right that it all isn’t okay. We were supposed to leave Fifth Fleet on July 15th, but then something had to come up, and my last hope of being home soon was gone.’”
His text continued, reiterating that it’s “really getting me” and “I don’t think I can do another deployment after this, and I don’t even know if I can finish this deployment.”
“[These are] really heartbreaking details, Katy,” said Sridhar — as well as mounting scrutiny over why the Navy hasn’t done anything about this.
“I did reach out to them for comment, and they basically said that they can’t comment on individual service members’ medical records for privacy reasons, but they are disputing the fact that there’s any sort of uptick in suicidal ideation on this specific ship,” she added.
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