“I will tell you unequivocally that [in] all my 36 years of service, if any Navy chief or non-commissioned officer, or officer, or admiral, or general had ever said those kind of words, they would have been relieved within minutes, and I mean that literally . . . It is totally inappropriate that the commander in chief of our military show continued disdain and disrespect for our military members and for their families."
Out of touch and, once again, a slap in the face to our service members.
Trump says USS Abraham Lincoln deployment 'not nearly long enough' | Reuters
Sending the GEORGE WASHINGTON which is based in Yokosuka, Japan will mean leaving the Western Pacific without a carrier and that very rare. China is enjoying this situation.
My personal take is that there’s 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard that ship. If 1% of them voiced any complaints to their girlfriends, wives, or mothers while they were in “blowing off steam” mode; that’s 50 to a hundred people stateside who spew their version of what was said to them in confidence thinking they’re looking out for their loved one…
I’m betting it’s closer to less than one tenth of one percent (15-20 individuals) who’ve actually reached their personal breaking point due to bad chow, long hours, and difficult circumstances…
As far as being suicidal goes…, cut that last number in half again and you may have had 10 people out of 5,000 that have thought about it and 2 or 3 who actually appeared to be attempting it (again out of 5,000 individuals)…
There’s also the very distinct possibility that at least one of the “suicidal” ones is actually just hoping for a section 8 to get themselves off the ship and out of the Navy (it’s not “that” tough to find a fairly rapid and definitive way to off yourself aboard an aircraft carrier). I’m guessing that matches up fairly well with what goes on in a population of 5,000 stateside…
Life is tough, when you voluntarily put yourself into a dangerous, difficult situation it’s even tougher… Obviously a few of those complaining just aren’t mentally tough enough to deal with what they signed up for.
During World War Two my father (a Marine) was deployed overseas for more than two years and wasn’t able to rotate back to San Diego even to say goodbye to his dying wife, my mother [she ended up making it thanks to a Navy Doctor allowing her to have medication solely reserved for service members but at the time my father had been notified that she wasn’t going to survive]… There were many other guys who were out there even longer…
It’s my opinion that it’s a real shame that a few weak sisters (the one half of one percenters) are publicly diminishing the achievements and endurance under great duress of the other 99.50 % of the men and women currently bravely serving on the USS Abraham Lincoln…
Here’s what one severely wounded Combat Veteran thinks about the distress of a few of the USS Abraham Lincoln’s crew:
The chances of anything negative about Trump, the war, any part of the administration, or the military being blown out of proportion and even falsified by the NYT and other mainstream press is 100%. Any reporting about Trump or the government while Trump holds office is unreliable.
FWIW CNN flew a reporter to the Lincoln in July and she filed a couple of videos. No mention of bad morale , bad food, or suicide, or deadly fighting.
Sending the GEORGE WASHINGTON which is based in Yokosuka, Japan will mean leaving the Western Pacific without a carrier and that very rare. China is enjoying this situation.
There are carriers docked in San Diego at this moment. According to the website, some are there for maintenance operations but others are not. Looks like somebody made a deliberate decision to dock carriers in San Diego instead of Japan.
Tells me that we want to force China to risk being subject to full nuclear retaliation package if they are crazy enough to attempt to take them out in a Fleet decapitation strike (similar to what the Japanese thought they were going to pull off at Pearl Harbor)…
If they’re in Japan the Chinese could come up with some reason to attack Japan (at the opening of a move against Taiwan) and call them “collateral damage”; in San Diego they have to hit CONUS directly and they have to know what That means…
Its good to see that whoever made this decision understands his history and how to utilize it to make good decisions.
Also tells me that someone at the top has reason to believe that China may have moved up their previously assessed timetable, which is concerning…
These sailors are on a boat, in the ocean, in the middle of August, with their friends.
People spend extravagant amounts of money on properties in Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard so they can do the same.
The sailors are doing it in our dime. How bout some gratitude.
Sending the GEORGE WASHINGTON which is based in Yokosuka, Japan will mean leaving the Western Pacific without a carrier and that very rare. China is enjoying this situation.
There are carriers docked in San Diego at this moment. According to the website, some are there for maintenance operations but others are not. Looks like somebody made a deliberate decision to dock carriers in San Diego instead of Japan.
What point are you trying to make here? We have carriers home ported in San Diego (Coronado to be precise), Bremerton, and Japan. The Atlantic Fleet carriers are all in Norfolk. The one in Japan, and the other ships in Japan (I was in two of them) are primarily meant to remain in the Western Pacific to deter China and North Korea rather than deploy to the Gulf.
If wifey's uncle John was still alive, this would prompt a helluva conversation to listen to. The man spent a couple of years on a cruiser in the pacific during WWII and would have had some very strong opinions about this.
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
The conversation that's happening here is much better than the one the national media is trying to frame up. Kuddos everyone. And I think that is really the point of me starting this thread.
The media puts stories out like this and they frame it so we all immediately go to our sides and start fighting.
"Trump is abusing our troops"-the left.
Then MAGA immediately gets defensive "those troops are pussies! Man up."
Neither things are true. The story is war is hell. The military is not for the faint of heart. And we should all remember to thank our service members anytime we can. While also remembering not to put them on a pedestal. They are humans too.
Tells me that we want to force China to risk being subject to full nuclear retaliation package if they are crazy enough to attempt to take them out in a Fleet decapitation strike (similar to what the Japanese thought they were going to pull off at Pearl Harbor)…
If they’re in Japan the Chinese could come up with some reason to attack Japan (at the opening of a move against Taiwan) and call them “collateral damage”; in San Diego they have to hit CONUS directly and they have to know what That means…
Its good to see that whoever made this decision understands his history and how to utilize it to make good decisions.
Also tells me that someone at the top has reason to believe that China may have moved up their previously assessed timetable, which is concerning…
The GEORGE WASHINGTON is being sent because it's the carrier that can deploy right now. This isn't a part of some high-level grand scheme. It's simple expedience to get the ABRAHAM LINCOLN out of the Gulf and on its way home. The GEORGE WASHINGTON and all the other US Navy ships stationed in Japan are primarily meant to counter China and North Korea. They do occasionally go to the Persian Gulf, but it's very rare. I served in two ships in Japan and in four years none of us deployed to the Gulf.
I spent a year in the Gulf when serving in my second ship, and this time of the year absolutely sucks. I was in Engineering and it was a steam ship so it sucked worse. Frankly it pretty much sucks all year round. It's over 100 degrees in the daytime and only cools down to the 80s at night this time of year. The humidity is high, so it feels even hotter. Like 120 degrees in the daytime and 100 degrees at night. Deploying on a ship means a couple 4 to 6 hour watches per day along with your normal workload. The rest of the time is trying to catch a couple hours of sleep here and there (the schedule isn't regular) and eat. If lucky, a short work out here and there. This is 7 days a week though most ships try to lighten the load a bit on Sundays - watches never stop. Like I've said, the food issue is hard to believe, because my experience is we always had plenty. However, it's possible that the war has interrupted underway replenishment schedules and they aren't going to have a carrier pull into any of the usual ports in the Middle East so Iran could have a stationary target to fire missiles and drones at.
the day to fear China, Militarily speaking, is the day we(USA) stop buying all goods from China and pay off all our debts to them(or refuse to pay them back). They are like a crack dealer and we are their best customer, who happens to have a steady high paying job. No way in hell they want to turn that spigot off.Tells me that we want to force China to risk being subject to full nuclear retaliation package if they are crazy enough to attempt to take them out in a Fleet decapitation strike (similar to what the Japanese thought they were going to pull off at Pearl Harbor)…
If they’re in Japan the Chinese could come up with some reason to attack Japan (at the opening of a move against Taiwan) and call them “collateral damage”; in San Diego they have to hit CONUS directly and they have to know what That means…
Its good to see that whoever made this decision understands his history and how to utilize it to make good decisions.
Also tells me that someone at the top has reason to believe that China may have moved up their previously assessed timetable, which is concerning…
Industrially and economically we should fear them.