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Navy sailor who jumped off USS Lincoln facing disciplinary charges · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: This story matters now to an MSNOW exclusive on USS
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  Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln, a sailor who jumped from the aircraft carrier
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  Speaker 1: this month in what his wife describes as a suicide
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  Speaker 1: attempt is now facing disciplinary action from the Navy. Earlier
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  Speaker 1: this month, MSNOW reported on the worsening conditions aboard the
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  Speaker 1: Lincoln after its deployment was extended to nine months because
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  Speaker 1: of the war in Iran. With us for more MSNOW
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  Speaker 1: is Priya Sridhar. Priya, tell us more about your reporting today.
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  Speaker 1: It's a normal response for the Navy, but isn't there
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  Speaker 1: a caveat that he's suffering from mental health issues?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's a great point, Steph. As you mentioned,
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  Speaker 2: this 19-year-old sailor jumped off the USS Abraham Lincoln. on
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  Speaker 2: August 3rd, and he's now facing disciplinary charges. He's essentially
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  Speaker 2: being accused of violating two different articles of the Uniform
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  Speaker 2: Code of Military Justice, one for what's called malingering, which
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  Speaker 2: is essentially when a service member fakes an injury or
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  Speaker 2: illness to attempt avoiding work, duty, or service. And the
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  Speaker 2: other article is for allegedly leaving his work duty station
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  Speaker 2: without the proper authority. So now he's facing this nonjudicial
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  Speaker 2: punishment process, which could cut his pay in half. Now,
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  Speaker 2: this young man actually had a baby back in February
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  Speaker 2: when he was on this deployment. He also has a
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  Speaker 2: three and a half year old son. His wife has
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  Speaker 2: told me that he joined the military to provide a
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  Speaker 2: better life for his family and some financial stability. And
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  Speaker 2: when he first jumped off the ship, she said that
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  Speaker 2: she frankly wasn't surprised that he did because he had
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  Speaker 2: been texting her since about the middle of his deployment,
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  Speaker 2: expressing to her that he was exhausted and depressed. And
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  Speaker 2: she told me that he had gone to his chain
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  Speaker 2: of command and the ship's medical team repeatedly. And when
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  Speaker 2: he did jump off the ship, she didn't discover that
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  Speaker 2: that even happened. From the Navy itself, she found out
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  Speaker 2: about it from one of his squadron mates. She reached
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  Speaker 2: out to the Navy and it took them five days
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  Speaker 2: until they finally said something to her. He was then
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  Speaker 2: medically evacuated from the ship, taken back to San Diego.
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  Speaker 2: He got back to San Diego exactly two weeks ago,
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  Speaker 2: spent five days in the hospital where, according to her,
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  Speaker 2: They were mostly monitoring his physical health and checking his vitals.
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  Speaker 2: And he didn't have his first mental health therapy appointment
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  Speaker 2: until yesterday. So I think all of this is raising
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  Speaker 2: a lot of concerns about how the military handles these
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  Speaker 2: mental health crises.
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  Speaker 3: Especially, Steph.
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  Speaker 2: Given the fact that I've talked to so many family
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  Speaker 2: members of service members on the USS Lincoln who have
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  Speaker 2: expressed to me that they're extremely concerned about their loved
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  Speaker 2: one's mental health, given the fact that this deployment has
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  Speaker 2: gotten repeatedly extended and they're facing so many difficult conditions,
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  Speaker 2: including food and supply shortages.
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  Speaker 1: Maria, thank you. Randy, what do you think about this?
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  Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know that much about the military
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  Speaker 4: and the rules, and it seems like there's always been
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  Speaker 4: sort of, you know, it's a rule-based job, right? But
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  Speaker 4: I can't help but think about Hegseth specifically and his machoism,
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  Speaker 4: you know, in this role and how he has basically
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  Speaker 4: said that anyone who is different from the ideal of
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  Speaker 4: this very male, strong, straight, just this figure is not
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  Speaker 4: worth it, does not belong. And so I can only
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  Speaker 4: imagine that Priya's excellent reporting, she's owned this story. Probably,
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  Speaker 4: I can't imagine Hegseth would feel anything but like, great,
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  Speaker 4: get him out, slap him with it. There's no compassion there.
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  Speaker 4: And I just think it fits in very well with
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  Speaker 4: Hegseth's Department of War.
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  Speaker 5: But Hegseth, he's trying to make an example of this then.
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  Speaker 5: How many people are going to jump off of an
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  Speaker 5: aircraft carrier in the middle of an ocean?
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  Speaker 3: There's not like there's an island or.
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  Speaker 5: Some dinghy boat that you can hang on to. I mean,
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  Speaker 5: this was clearly a suicide attempt or at least a
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  Speaker 5: just profound cry for help. And he pays no attention
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  Speaker 5: to this. He's like, let's throw the book at him
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  Speaker 5: because he's got this warrior mentality.
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  Speaker 1: Let's talk about why. The USS Lincoln is still out there.
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  Speaker 1: It's this war. We're now approaching six months. The president,
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  Speaker 1: while he's saying mission accomplished, while he's claiming the Strait
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  Speaker 1: of Formosa is open, which it is not, he's also
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  Speaker 1: saying he is in no hurry to restart talks with
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  Speaker 1: this country. Are we just trapped in this situation right now?
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  Speaker 3: Well, this is an example of how President Trump sent
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  Speaker 3: the Navy to war without a plan. And the goals
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  Speaker 3: that he set out for have not been accomplished. The Lincoln,
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  Speaker 3: which was supporting the strikes against Iran, but also protecting U.S.
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  Speaker 3: bases in the region and allies in the region, was
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  Speaker 3: out there and extended because the Navy hadn't had the
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  Speaker 3: time to prepare for this scale of deployment. And now
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  Speaker 3: the Lincoln is heading back to its home port. It's
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  Speaker 3: been relieved by another aircraft carrier. But two of the destroyers,
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  Speaker 3: as Priya has reported, two of the destroyers that have
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  Speaker 3: been out just as long as the Lincoln had the
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  Speaker 3: same supply shortages and troubles with morale are having to
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  Speaker 3: stay out there because the Navy didn't have a plan
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  Speaker 3: for replacing them. So this is an example of President
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  Speaker 3: Trump and Secretary Hexeth sending the country into war without
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  Speaker 3: thinking through the long-term implications.
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  Speaker 6: And they're sending the Lincoln to Thailand. after 250 days
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  Speaker 6: at sea. It is not one of the countries that's
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  Speaker 6: known for constrained behavior among people who have been isolated
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  Speaker 6: for as long as they have been. And so, you know,
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  Speaker 6: there are all kinds of attendant risks that go along,
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  Speaker 6: not just with the length of deployment, but where they're
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  Speaker 6: stopping off first. It's not like they're going to get
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  Speaker 6: health checks. They're not going to get mental health checks.
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  Speaker 6: They're not going to get physical health checks. They're going
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  Speaker 6: to be, you know, they're going to have shore leave
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  Speaker 6: in a place that you know, it was probably not
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  Speaker 6: optimal for a group that's been at sea all this time.
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  Speaker 1: Let me ask you about another consequence from this war.
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  Speaker 6: U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Diesel, not just prices, but supplies are now hitting a
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  Speaker 1: seasonal low in terms of supplies. What is the impact
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  Speaker 1: of this?
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  Speaker 6: So this means higher food prices, higher shipping prices. Again,
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  Speaker 6: no break on groceries, right? Because The way in which
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  Speaker 6: we transport our food relies on trucks that are powered
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  Speaker 6: by diesel fuel. And again, Steph, we can also add
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  Speaker 6: fertilizer to this. U.S. farmers are suffering with lower and
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  Speaker 6: smaller crops because they cannot get fertilizer out of the
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  Speaker 6: Strait of Hormuz. All the attendant ingredients that go into
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  Speaker 6: making fertilizer are unavailable. And so once again, we're in
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  Speaker 6: the same situation where this war is not only having
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  Speaker 6: an impact on Energy prices, gasoline for consumers, but also,
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  Speaker 6: you know, diesel for shipping and transportation, fertilizer for food.
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  Speaker 6: All of these things are still being disrupted. And again,
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  Speaker 6: there's no plan. There's no offset. There's no backup for
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  Speaker 6: any of this. And our strategic petroleum reserves. is down
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  Speaker 6: to levels we've not seen since 1982.
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  Speaker 1: Then go back to Alex's earlier point or her question.
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  Speaker 1: We have seen this administration keep moving the goalpost, moving
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  Speaker 1: the goalpost. Since Donald Trump took office this second time,
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  Speaker 1: the economy is going to boom in a few months,
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  Speaker 1: in a few months, in a few months. Now they're
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  Speaker 1: simply saying prices are going to come down. Do you
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  Speaker 1: see anything besides them potentially hoping and praying that the
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  Speaker 1: war in Ukraine ends and maybe that can help lower
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  Speaker 1: oil prices? And that's such a low probability. Is there
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  Speaker 1: anything that you are seeing them do strategically that will
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  Speaker 1: help us economically?
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  Speaker 6: Strategically, no. I mean, this kind of theater that's being
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  Speaker 6: taking place with the Treasury Secretary about trying to lower
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  Speaker 6: interest rates by buying back bonds, I won't get into
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  Speaker 6: the details. If he buys bonds, he drives interest rates lower.
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  Speaker 6: That could help mortgages, car loans, and so on and
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  Speaker 6: so forth.
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  Speaker 1: But it's not working.
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  Speaker 6: But this is all at the margin. I mean, this
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  Speaker 6: is very, very small stuff. There is no grand plan.
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  Speaker 6: There is no large-scale policy initiative coming out of this
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  Speaker 6: administration or Congress, for that matter. that would affect prices,
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  Speaker 6: that would increase employment outside of what's happening with artificial intelligence,
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  Speaker 6: which is really... Right now, the driver of economic growth
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  Speaker 6: in the United States, the build out of infrastructure has
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  Speaker 6: accounted for more than half of our growth recently. And
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  Speaker 6: spending among the top 20 percent of wage earners in
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  Speaker 6: this country is the other prop. Aside from that, there
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  Speaker 6: is not a lot going on that is driving the
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  Speaker 6: economy forward. And our growth rate is one and a
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  Speaker 6: half percent currently.
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  Speaker 1: Then given that, right, the Atlantic is reporting that Pete
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  Speaker 1: Hagseth and Donald Trump want to put Iran in the
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  Speaker 1: rearview mirror. They want to redirect our attention. How are
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  Speaker 1: they going to do that?
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  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 1: Besides all of our coverage of the actual war, let's
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  Speaker 1: pretend there was no coverage of the war. The Americans
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  Speaker 1: lived experience to Ron's point earlier. Our life is harder.
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  Speaker 1: Our life is more expensive. It ain't getting cheaper. How
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  Speaker 1: can you put Iran out of our minds when it's
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  Speaker 1: one of the root causes of the pain that we're facing?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Trump is trying to do it by putting out
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  Speaker 3: Secretary Besson to talk about an economic warfare against Iran
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  Speaker 3: and tighten up sanctions. I mean, sanctions have been tight
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  Speaker 3: against Iran for years. And If they're going to make
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  Speaker 3: them tighter, they have to go after China and other countries.
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  Speaker 3: And that could have a ripple effect, more ripple effects
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  Speaker 3: in the global economy. So Trump, clearly he has tried
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  Speaker 3: to lower the temperature and tried to put this out
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  Speaker 3: of the front pages of the papers. But it's not
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  Speaker 3: going to go away. And also Iran still has a
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  Speaker 3: stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz. Only a few ships
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  Speaker 3: are getting through.
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  Speaker 1: But you don't lower the temperature when day in and
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  Speaker 1: day out you lie to reporters about the state of
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  Speaker 1: this war. You don't.
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  Speaker 6: May I add one point?
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  Speaker 1: One, quick. Okay.
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  Speaker 6: So the war between Russia and Ukraine is intensifying. Wheat
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  Speaker 6: prices are at a three-year high. There is a lot
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  Speaker 6: of wheat that is locked in in Ukraine that cannot
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  Speaker 6: leave the country. And so even that, and the war
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  Speaker 6: is expected to intensify. There was talk in Bloomberg yesterday
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  Speaker 6: of Vladimir Putin contemplating using a battlefield tactical nuclear weapon
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  Speaker 6: on Ukraine. You're talking about disruptions and a very low probability,
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  Speaker 6: to be sure. But even the war as it stands
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  Speaker 6: right now, is affecting the cost of food. And Ukraine's grain,
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  Speaker 6: which typically goes to places like Egypt, is locked in,
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  Speaker 6: can't leave the country. And so all of these things,
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  Speaker 6: you know, when you take them in sum, again, go
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  Speaker 6: take us right back to where we were before. Prices
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  Speaker 6: simply can't come down in an environment like this.
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  Speaker 5: I'm sorry, that Atlantic article, it's a strategy to, hey,
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  Speaker 5: let's hope that Iran can get pushed to the background
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  Speaker 5: and then let's hope that gas prices come down. Have
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  Speaker 5: you looked up the word strategy and know what that is?
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  Speaker 3: That's not a strategy.
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  Speaker 4: It's ridiculous.