Families of sailors deployed to the Middle East have lashed out at one of Pete Hegseth’s top secretaries after learning their loved ones will not be home for the holidays.
Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao addressed 500 sailors’ families in a town hall this week in Norfolk, Virginia, where the USS George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group left port in March for what was expected to be a six-to-seven-month deployment.
Now, loved ones of sailors are tearing into Navy officials after being told they should now plan for a potential yearlong deployment, meaning none of the sailors will be home for Christmas, MS Now has revealed.
Hung Cao, now the acting secretary of the U.S. Navy, was on the campaign trail with President Donald Trump in 2024.
The network reports that families at the Norfolk meeting raised concerns about repeated deployment extensions, uncertainty about their return, food shortages, deteriorating onboard conditions, broken equipment, and limited access to mental health services.
“My husband has wanted to try to kill himself four times while on the Bush,” one military spouse said to Cao. “Nobody gave him help. All of his high-ups told him, ‘You do not have time; you have a job to do. Your job is not to have mental health care.’”
MS Now reports that another spouse said of her deployed husband, “He doesn’t even want to f—ing live anymore. And you’re going to sit up there and be like, ‘Oh, we’re doing everything we can, I understand.’ No, you don’t! No, you f—ing don’t!”
The USS George H.W. Bush reached the Middle East in April to relieve the USS Gerald R. Ford
At another point, a family member shouted out that the war with Iran is “unsanctioned,” referencing how Hegseth and Trump have skirted congressional approval. Loved ones also reportedly shouted that the Navy was not answering their questions and was instead giving them the “runaround.” Another called out to ask what the Navy was doing to push back on Trump so the conflict would not become another “forever war.”
Others reportedly waited their turn at the microphone.
“Trust within the force and among our families is heavily strained right now between record-breaking stretches without relief, shifting timelines, and the feeling that communication downplays the reality on the ground,” one military loved one said, according to MS Now. “Families are burning out under the immense strain.”
The strike group reportedly has more than 7,000 sailors. They reached the Middle East in April as part of the so-called “Operation Epic Fury” and to monitor shipping lanes in and around the Strait of Hormuz. It has been in a combat zone for much of its deployment, but finally made its first port call on Oct. 4 in Phuket, Thailand, after 187 days at sea.
Adm. Karl Thomas, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, conceded that the situation is a stressful one for sailors, as Iran possesses one-way attack vehicles that can “pepper” the carrier. He said the sailors onboard are “doing a hard job.”
Thomas conceded that he is not sure what is next for the group.
“We have enough firepower out there that should we have to go back into major combat operations, we have the firepower to do it,” he said, according to MS Now. “There are a lot of things that could happen. We could find our way out of this, we could get to the point where we go down to one [carrier strike group], we could go back into combat. I don’t control that, we don’t control that, the enemy does get a vote.”
Thomas also addressed reports that on-board conditions are deteriorating. He conceded that the strike group is short on fresh food for sailors, saying that by the time fruit and vegetables reach the carrier from Japan and the Philippines, they are already going bad.
“It doesn’t last more than a week,” Thomas said. “And then they’re into the canned vegetables.”
Similar dire conditions were reported aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, with images of the food being served leaking earlier this year.
The Daily Beast/US Navy/X
Navy leaders said at the town hall that the decision rests with Hegseth as to when the strike group can exit the Middle East. Reached for comment, the Pentagon referred the Daily Beast to the Navy, which did not immediately respond to an email.
Little things like fresh fruit can be a big boost to morale after so many months at sea. A spouse of one sailor who spoke in this week’s meeting said that her husband “saw an apple for the first time after like three months and almost cried on the phone.”
Another spouse said, “The food is getting progressively worse, the toilets continue to not work regularly, the washers and dryers don’t work, my husband’s having to hand-wash his overalls, he’s working on the flight deck, he’s sweating and covered in oil constantly, and he also has to hand-wash his stuff because the boat’s falling apart.”
Adm. James Kilby, vice chief of naval operations, did not dispute these concerns.
“I don’t have an answer for you other than we will continue to work at that problem,” he reportedly said, adding that, as a “small consolation,” turkeys are en route to the carrier for Thanksgiving.
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