The Democrat running to unseat Shae Sortwell in Wisconsin’s 2nd Assembly District is making her voice heard regarding the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Over the past couple of days, reports have been coming out regarding the conditions on board the aircraft carrier, which, according to an ABC News report, “has been deployed for more than 250 days and has gone more than 200 days without a port call.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is pushing back on other claims in this report, saying they are “completely misrepresented.”
He added that his department makes “sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment.”
Alicia Saunders, who is running in this year’s 2nd Assembly District race and served in the Navy aboard the USS Harry S. Truman during Operation Iraqi Freedom, is calling out those who are criticising the sailors on board the USS Lincoln.
She noted that there are too many unverified claims regarding the conditions, but she noted that “Carrier life is hard… There is a reason the flight deck of an aircraft carrier has been dubbed ‘the most dangerous four-and-a-half acres in the world.’”
But the part of the story that is bothering her the most is the civilians who are calling sailors who have reportedly attempted suicide weak.
Saunders explained, “I can tell you from experience: after enough time at sea, that water can start looking really inviting. We got stir-crazy after weeks between port calls. The sailors aboard the Lincoln have been doing this for months with almost no meaningful break from that environment.”
She also noted, “Suicide watches aren’t something that suddenly appeared aboard the Lincoln, either. I remember sailors being placed on suicide watch during my own time in the Navy, both deployed and at home. None of that makes what is happening now less serious. Do not call these sailors weak…Reaching a breaking point isn’t cowardice.”
U.S. Central Command is also fact-checking the broadly reported reports.
On its official Facebook page, the group stated that a report alleging “seven Sailors died in a brawl aboard the aircraft carrier and others have recently suggested a spike in suicidal ideations” is false.
They also noted that the USS Abraham Lincoln “has maintained among the highest crew reenlistment rates (84.4%) of all aircraft carriers in the U.S. Navy. The Sailors and Marines of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group remain resilient and resolved after more than 260 days at sea, 10,000 aircraft flights, and 1.5 million pounds of ordnance expended. No service members aboard the aircraft carrier have died, and the one Sailor who fell overboard Aug. 3 was quickly and safely recovered. The rampant misreporting on Abraham Lincoln’s historic deployment is a disservice to our men and women in uniform and their loved ones.”
