THE LINCOLN PROBLEM: For weeks conditions on the U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln — on station in the Iran war zone — were social media fodder, with reports of moldy showers, bad food, and a shortage of personal hygiene supplies. But it was hard to tell if it was just normal griping by sailors who have been stuck at sea for a record 250 days, or if something was seriously awry.Then came reports that some of the 5,000 crew members were so stressed by the high-intensity operations they engaged in self-harm – and in a very few cases attempted to go overboard, only to be stopped by their shipmates.Text messages from a crew member to his family, obtained by the website MeidasTouch, paint a picture of deteriorating living conditions as resupply ships are having trouble getting to the carrier in a timely manner. “So the supply ship that comes here can’t bring fruits and stuff cause it can’t stay fresh long enough with the time it gets them to get here,” the unidentified sailor wrote. “So we haven’t had anything fresh but meat cause it’s freezed. Sometimes it gets here rotten.”
“Repulsive,” the unnamed family member responded. In another message the sailor shared a picture of dry cereal: “Hey honey I’m eating cereal rn. Wish there was milk tho. Haven’t had milk in 3 months.”“This deployment is the worst one and I pray no other boat goes through the same,” the sailor concluded. “Even people that have been deployed a hundred times claim this one to be the worst and believe it can get worse than this.”A GRUELING, RECOND-LONG DEPLOYMENT: The Lincoln is in its ninth month at sea with only two brief port calls early on in its deployment, and reports that crew may be at the breaking point from nonstop combat operations in an active war zone has set off alarm bells on Capitol Hill, especially among Democrats who were already highly critical of President Donald Trump’s “war of choice.”Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), fired off a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao demanding to know what was being done to support the sailors.“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, which have caused many care packages en route to the ship to be lost in transit for months,” Blumenthal wrote. “These reports warrant immediate attention, but they also raise a broader question: whether the Navy can sustain the operational tempo now being demanded of its carrier force, particularly as this Administration repeatedly commits U.S. forces to conflicts of its own choosing and increasingly relies on aircraft carriers to sustain those operations.”Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) is calling for the Navy to fly a bipartisan congressional delegation out to the ship so lawmakers can conduct an “oversight investigation” into conditions on the aircraft carrier. “CODELs have visited war zones to inspect the conditions of our troops. There is no reason to be denied access,” Gallego posted on X.NAVY RESPONSE: ‘WE HEAR YOU LOUD AND CLEAR’: A Navy spokesman told the Washington Examiner that senior naval officials, including the navy secretary, have met with families of the Lincoln’s crew to “hear their concerns directly, answer questions, and provide updates on the deployment.”“We have not observed an increase in suicidal ideations or attempts aboard the ship. We take every service member’s well-being seriously and have religious, medical and mental health professionals available to assess and address concerns as they arise,” the Navy said in a separate statement.But the reporter who broke the story for the Military Times, says Annabelle Loma — whose husband attempted to jump overboard — hasn’t heard from anyone in the Navy in weeks. “She is extremely worried and concerned about how her husband is actually doing, Pentagon Correspondent Natalie Oliverio, told CNN last night. “And until she can be in front of him and see him with her own eyes, she’s not really going to be able to answer that question.”“It’s horrific. But sadly, I’m not surprised,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) reacted in the same CNN segment. “I mean, we have a president, a commander in chief who has made fun of troops for mental health issues. We have a Secretary of Defense who is more focused on testosterone tests than actually keeping our troops alive.”“We will be conducting an investigation to get to the bottom of this,” Moulton said. “It’s pretty obvious, though, that these troops are not getting the mental health support that they need, and it’s our job in Congress to get to the bottom of that.”NAVY ADMITS ‘SIGNIFICANT STRAIN’ ON DEPLOYED SERVICE MEMBERS AFTER REPORTS OF WORSENING MENTAL HEALTHGood Thursday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Keely Bastow. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP OR READ BACK ISSUES OF DAILY ON DEFENSEZELENSKY’S PITEOUS PLEA: You could hear the anguish and desperation in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s voice as he explained why Ukraine is now defenseless against Russian ballistic missiles in a remarkably candid interview with CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh.“I will explain to you how it works. So this year we have two and a half times less interceptors than we had in 2025 first. Russia has two times more ballistic missiles per month than they had before,” Zelensky said, explaining that his main task is making phone calls to the U.S. and other allies pleading for air defense missiles. “It’s my personal talks, meetings and phone calls each day with everybody. I try to exchange something for missiles.”And he’s got the money to pay, upfront, 100% — and if he fails, hundreds more Ukrainians will die in the coming months. It weighs on him.“This year I’m asking American partners to sell me 5%, 5%, of missiles what they have in their stocks. If they sell us 5% we will go through the winter and save people’s lives. If they can sell us 10%, we will destroy all the Russians’ ballistic missiles. “I have 1%,” Zelensky told CNN. “This is what I live each day. From 1% to 5%.” After Trump appeared to walk back his promise to allow Ukraine to produce its own version of the Patriot missiles under license to the U.S., CNN asked if still expected to get permission to make Patriots. Zelensky didn’t answer directly.“I hope that I will get it,” Zelensky said. “This is for me is a big challenge, one of the biggest I had from the very beginning of this war.”“Months and million phone calls and anything else, what can I do?” Zelensky lamented. “I do some things which I can’t even share.”UKRAINE PAUSES STRIKES ON TANKERS AFTER JD VANCE REQUEST AND RUSSIAN THREATSTRUMP: “I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!: Trump continued to assert that the Strait of Hormuz is open, and that Iran is one the ropes.“The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT! Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, “A WALL OF STEEL,” and there is nothing Iran can do about it,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, their remaining soldiers are unpaid, the IRGC is decimated and fleeing, and their “Leadership” is uncertain, at best!:News organizations from Fox News to the Wall Street Journal have pointed out that ship traffic through the strait is a fraction of what it was before the war.“Ship-tracking data shows that just 14 vessels on Tuesday crossed a waterway that routinely handled more than 130 a day before the war. Eleven of those ships took the route administered by Iran,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “Traffic was slow throughout July, with an average of 26 crossings a day, and in June, with 33 a day, as renewed Iranian attacks on ships cut short a deal to open the strait.”TRUMP CLAIMS ‘TOTAL CONTROL’ OF STRAIT OF HORMUZ AS WAR DRAGS ONTHE RUNDOWN: Washington Examiner: Navy admits ‘significant strain’ on deployed service members after reports of worsening mental healthWashington Examiner: New Colombian president authorized joint military operations with US targeting cartels: HegsethWashington Examiner: Trump claims ‘total control’ of Strait of Hormuz as war drags onWashington Examiner: Ukraine pauses strikes on tankers after JD Vance request and Russian threatsWashington Examiner: Taiwan throttles internet to test ‘communications resilience’ during annual anti-China military drillsWashington Examiner: NYC residents say ICE has arrived and is inflicting ‘unacceptable terror’Washington Examiner: DOJ tells DC Council it has ‘no power’ to demand National Guard withdrawalWashington Examiner: Two dead after Apache attack helicopter crashes in central TexasWashington Examiner: Several Cabinet officials stayed behind on Air Force One decoy during Trump ruse: ReportWashington Examiner: Anti-weaponization fund comes back to life in Georgia Senate raceWashington Examiner: Opinion: Trump has a ‘big stick’ in Iran. He forgot to bring a brainWashington Post: CIA had ‘low confidence’ in Iranian threat before Trump switched planes in TurkeyFox News: ‘Decoy’ Air Force One Was Protected by US Fighter Jets, Official SaysWall Street Journal: Trump Says Hormuz Is Under U.S. Control. Few Ships Are Listening.Wall Street Journal: U.S. and Ukrainian Forces Went Head-to-Head in an Exercise. Ukraine’s Drones Won. Breaking Defense: Feinberg Requested Defense Industry Board Members for BriefingAP: Hegseth Says Colombia’s New President Has Requested US Collaboration in Anti-Drug EffortsAir Force Times: Air Force Expedites COVID Reinstatement Process for Separated Airmen, GuardiansAir & Space Forces Magazine: Watchdog Presses DOD to Fix Decaying Infrastructure at Pacific Air BasesThe War Zone: Drone Swarms over Langley AFB Didn’t Surprise General in Charge of NORADAir & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force Moves Ahead with Plan to Put HH-60W at AndrewsAir & Space Forces Magazine: Space Command to Host Live-Fly Advanced Maneuver ExerciseCBC: Canadian Air Force’s 1st New Refueling jet Won’t Be Delivered Until Late 2027THE CALENDAR: THURSDAY | AUGUST 13 10 a.m. — Hudson Institute discussion: “Six Months After Epic Fury: The State of the Conflict in the Gulf,” with Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran Program senior director and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies; Michael Doran, senior fellow and director at the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East; Ludovic Hood, senior fellow at the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East; and Zineb Riboua, research fellow at the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East https://www.hudson.org/events/six-months-after-epic-fury-state-conflict-gulfFRIDAY | AUGUST 14 7:30 a.m. 11493 Sunset Hills Rd. Reston Va. — Government Executive Media Group discussion: “Beyond the Platform: Inside the Army and Navy’s Expanding Unmanned Systems Market,” with John Carbone, senior technical director for supporting government and critical infrastructure for Everfox; David Hutchins, director of defense technologies and naval systems for Forecast International; Erin Kocourek, vice president of business development and space for CACI; Matt Marsden, senior director of solutions consulting for Palo Alto Networks; former Assistant Defense Secretary for Space Policy John Plumb, head of strategy for K2 Space; Todd Stevens, vice president of mission strategies and advanced capabilities and strike, deterrence and missile defense for Lockheed Martin Space; and Nick Wakeman, editor-in-chief of Washington Technology https://events.govexec.com/wt-power-breakfast-beyond-the-platform/
