Pakistan says a deal is very close. Even if they reach one I'd expect Netanyahu or Trump to blow it up.
Gotta feel for these guys. It's been a brutal deployment.
Fortunately, the latest news is that the USS Abraham Lincoln will soon be replaced in the Middle East.
USS Abraham Lincoln families press Navy leaders over sailors’ mental health | Stars and Stripes
@big-ryan In all my time at sea in six ships, we never lacked for food. It was hard not to gain weight on deployments. The stories about being low on food is difficult for me to believe. Now, extending deployments has happened and that’s usually a morale killer, but don’t recall hearing anyone wanting to commit suicide because of it. This is unique due to the length of time at sea without any shore time.
Wait until they get home and a few Sailors find out their wives are seven to eight months pregnant.
@big-ryan In all my time at sea in six ships, we never lacked for food. It was hard not to gain weight on deployments. The stories about being low on food is difficult for me to believe. Now, extending deployments has happened and that’s usually a morale killer, but don’t recall hearing anyone wanting to commit suicide because of it. This is unique due to the length of time at sea without any shore time.
Wait until they get home and a few Sailors find out their wives are seven to eight months pregnant.
Great to get your insight, @aloha-hoosier . Thanks.
Multiple sources, including the Washington Post, are reporting periods of food rationing, water contamination, broken toilets and other problems. I don't understand how this could have happened.
Even under the best possible circumstances on the carrier, I've got to think a deployment this long (going on nine months, I believe) and apparently record-setting for longest stretch without a port call would have to be morale-crushing. One sailor was quoted as saying he didn't even know what day of the week it was as the days are all monotonously the same; another similarly described it as a Groundhog Day time loop. And obviously no one's going anywhere. 5,000 sailors confined to one ship 24/7.
Finally, these are mostly young adults. Having a girlfriend or wife and, to put it bluntly, getting laid frequently, are usually top of mind. How do they work around that? How do they not lose their minds?
@big-ryan In all my time at sea in six ships, we never lacked for food. It was hard not to gain weight on deployments. The stories about being low on food is difficult for me to believe. Now, extending deployments has happened and that’s usually a morale killer, but don’t recall hearing anyone wanting to commit suicide because of it. This is unique due to the length of time at sea without any shore time.
Wait until they get home and a few Sailors find out their wives are seven to eight months pregnant.
Great to get your insight, @aloha-hoosier . Thanks.
Multiple sources, including the Washington Post, are reporting periods of food rationing, water contamination, broken toilets and other problems. I don't understand how this could have happened.
Even under the best possible circumstances on the carrier, I've got to think a deployment this long (going on nine months, I believe) and apparently record-setting for longest stretch without a port call would have to be morale-crushing. One sailor was quoted as saying he didn't even know what day of the week it was as the days are all monotonously the same; another similarly described it as a Groundhog Day time loop. And obviously no one's going anywhere. 5,000 sailors confined to one ship 24/7.
Finally, these are mostly young adults. Having a girlfriend or wife and, to put it bluntly, getting laid frequently, are usually top of mind. How do they work around that? How do they not lose their minds?
Definitely some problems, though I've never known a ship to experience food issues. Occasionally we'll have problems with making fresh water and have to ration water for a couple days and not take showers, but that is very rare. Fresh fruits and vegetables might run short after a couple weeks at sea, but there's always been plenty of food otherwise. The new carriers have had sewage system problems due to a poor design, but this isn't one of those Ford class carriers, so that's also unusual. As far as length of time at sea without a port visit, I've personally never been at sea longer than 45 days without stopping somewhere, even for just a day or two. I know it's 45 days because if we're at sea for 45 consecutive days and don't pull into port, we all can get TWO beers. Can't sell them. Can't give them to anyone else. You get two beers to drink, under supervision, and that's it. Non-drinkers get nothing - or a nonalcoholic beer if desired. Get on with your cruise. Never experienced a "beer day."
On my last two ships on the transit back from the western Pacific, as a morale booster I had them mark a random soda in the soda machine every day and whoever got that won a beer and could sit in my chair on the bridge while drinking it. One of my junior officers won the beer on my fifth ship and got his beer delivered to him while sitting in my chair. Then he had many pictures taken while he was there. I went back to my office/state room for an hour or two to do some work and when I got back to the bridge, he was still there. I said, "What in the hell are you doing in my chair? No one takes that long to drink a beer. Get the hell off it and off the bridge!" Everyone was laughing, including me and the young officer - as he got the hell off my chair and the bridge. The Sailors that won the beer usually were out of my chair in 20 minutes or less. 😉
@aloha-hoosier you never operated under a completely incompetent administration.
https://twitter.com/i/status/2085770874280428015
The Iran situation is IMO a bigger geopolitical blunder than Iraq. The mess that will be left in the wake of this will have to be dealt with by future administrations, because there is no way this one will be able to fix it. And the ramifications are going to be exponentially worse.
First Trump said his "little excursion" would be over in a few weeks. Then it was 4-5 weeks. Then he repeatedly declared it "over," "done," "won." Then he signed an MOU with Iran on June 17 which declared an end to military operations (that didn't happen) and a 60-day window for resolving the major issues, like eliminating Iran's nuclear weapon capabilities.
Today is the day by which the US and Iran were to have reached a final deal. No final deal has been reached or is anywhere in sight. We're coming up on six months since Trump and Netanyahu started this war. 18 dead US service members, hundreds injured, close to $100 billion spent, and no victory or off-ramp on the horizon.
Even our Gulf allies have had it with Trump's ineptitude. "'Trump started this war,' the Gulf official said, 'and we are paying the price.'"
What a mess.
US-Iran war updates: 60-day memorandum of understanding deadline passes with no permanent peace deal
What do you think is a better option? More bombings? Boots on the ground invasion?
You will never win a war without men on the ground taking and holding territory. Trump deciding to bomb his way to victory is just Clinton's failed missile barrage that did zip against Bin Laden's movement writ large.
We're at a point where we either have to cut our losses or push all our chips in.
Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for. - Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and likely Hoosier basketball fan.
POTFB
What do you think is a better option? More bombings? Boots on the ground invasion?
You will never win a war without men on the ground taking and holding territory. Trump deciding to bomb his way to victory is just Clinton's failed missile barrage that did zip against Bin Laden's movement writ large.
We're at a point where we either have to cut our losses or push all our chips in.
We know all the chips won't be put in until after midterms at the earliest given doing that would usually have a negative effect politically.
I'm guessing we will cut our losses eventually and trump will find some way to either claim victory (even though it won't be one) or blame the dems for the blunder.
Sir, does this mean that Ann-Margret's not coming?What do you think is a better option? More bombings? Boots on the ground invasion?
You will never win a war without men on the ground taking and holding territory. Trump deciding to bomb his way to victory is just Clinton's failed missile barrage that did zip against Bin Laden's movement writ large.
We're at a point where we either have to cut our losses or push all our chips in.
Iran’s secret plan to escalate the war
Iran has every intention of prolonging the war. Trump might be forced to leave it to the next Administration.
Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it 'gets in the way' of US-Iran talks
Iran offers $30,000 bounty for killing or capturing US soldiers - France 24
US-Iran ceasefire set to expire with talks at a standstill - POLITICO
Trump Says Record-Setting Carrier Deployment "Not Nearly Long Enough"
Eleven killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, authorities say
Israel's Ben-Gvir advocates killing '30 to 40' people in Gaza every night | AP News
Two More Tankers Attacked in the Strait of Hormuz
The President has threatened Oman. Oman is a partner nation. We have Omanis in the country today getting military training.
It's not possible to see any sort of reasonable and logical plan for this war. Americans have never been left in the dark like this during my time in the military or working with the DoD, which is since 1985.