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US sailors try to jump ship after 250 days at sea · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: It's a shocking new report that multiple sailors aboard the
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  Speaker 1: USS Abraham Lincoln have tried to jump overboard amid poor
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  Speaker 1: conditions and mental stress on the ship. This is according
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  Speaker 1: to new reporting from The Military Times, which spoke to
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  Speaker 1: the wife of one of those sailors, who says she's
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  Speaker 1: spoken to her husband only a handful of times since
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  Speaker 1: he tried to jump. He is now in a medical hold.
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  Speaker 1: The Military Times is also reporting severe food shortages on
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  Speaker 1: board and that sailors are running out of just basic
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  Speaker 1: needs toothpaste, deodorant, soap. This crew has been at sea
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  Speaker 1: for nine months amid Trump's war in Iran. That includes
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  Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty consecutive days without setting foot on land.
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  Speaker 1: Two hundred and fifty consecutive days. That is a record
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  Speaker 1: out front Now. Natalie Olivero, she is the Military Times
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  Speaker 1: journalist who broke the story, and she is also a
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  Speaker 1: Navy veteran. Natalie, I appreciate your time. I mean, the
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  Speaker 1: details you have in this story are really stunning. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: my jaw drops. You know, we're talking about the USS
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  Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln and you're talking about things that I think
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  Speaker 1: people struggle to understand or happening in the US military.
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  Speaker 1: You've spoken directly with some of these families, and you're
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  Speaker 1: reporting on incidents involving sailors apparently trying to jump overboard.
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  Speaker 1: You spoke to the wife of one of them, I know,
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  Speaker 1: and her husband served in the Navy for more than
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  Speaker 1: a dozen years thirteen years. So what have you learned?
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me Arin and for covering this story.
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  Speaker 2: Speaking with in Miss Diloma, she is extremely worried and
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  Speaker 2: concerned about how her husband is actually doing, and until
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  Speaker 2: she can be in front of him and see him
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  Speaker 2: with her own eyes, she's not really going to be
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  Speaker 2: able to answer that question. And facing the stresses that
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  Speaker 2: every military spouse faces when theirs is deployed. It's being
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  Speaker 2: a solo parent at home with three little kids. So
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  Speaker 2: not being able to have answers or direction is really
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  Speaker 2: challenging right now for her, especially.
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  Speaker 1: So you know, look, these incidents are very disturbing. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: what would drive someone to be at a point where
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  Speaker 1: they would be willing to do that, obviously is distressing
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  Speaker 1: to consider. But the families of sailors aboard the Lincoln
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  Speaker 1: are telling you about incidents like this, They're also telling
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  Speaker 1: you about some of these other truly stunning details, that
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  Speaker 1: the sailors are often hungry because that there isn't enough food,
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  Speaker 1: that basic supplies toothpaste, deodorant aren't easy to get. Now,
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  Speaker 1: back in April, you know, and this has been going
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  Speaker 1: on a long time. We talk about this ship two
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  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty days in a row without setting foot
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  Speaker 1: on land, a record, So this has been going on
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  Speaker 1: a long time. In April, Secretary of Headset dismissed reports
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  Speaker 1: about inadequate food. He said it was fake news. So
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  Speaker 1: what's the reaction to from the families that you're speaking to.
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  Speaker 1: They don't get to talk to their sale loved ones
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  Speaker 1: on board that ship. That often, what's their reaction when
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  Speaker 1: the Defense secretary calls us all fake news?
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  Speaker 2: Confusion, hurt, lack of understanding. They're constantly seeking some kind
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  Speaker 2: of reassurance or information. There's a lot of conflicting reports,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of different information, especially on social media within
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  Speaker 2: different groups and small community pages. Those are the pages
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  Speaker 2: where organic conversations and relationships exist. Those aren't deep fakes
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  Speaker 2: or AI dupes being created. These are where families go
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  Speaker 2: to communicate. This is a lifeline for families who really
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  Speaker 2: never receive an instruction manual on how to handle your
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  Speaker 2: time when your loved one is deployed. So families are
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  Speaker 2: feeling left in the dark, and all families are agreeing
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  Speaker 2: that it is absolutely unacceptable and unthinkable to imagine.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's unthinkable, I think for any American to hear
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  Speaker 1: this reporting frankly and deeply disturbing to imagine that sailors
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  Speaker 1: who are serving this country going to two hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty days without setting foot on nine month deployment would
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  Speaker 1: have food shortages or it's upsetting. So we reached out
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  Speaker 1: to the Navy Natalie about your report, and they responded
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  Speaker 1: in a statement and they said, quote, we have not
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  Speaker 1: observed an increase in suicidal ideations or attempts aboard the ship.
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  Speaker 1: We're not experiencing an uptick and mental health issues aboard.
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  Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln, I just wanted to give you a chance
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  Speaker 1: to respond to that.
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  Speaker 2: My first question to that is an increase from what baseline?
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  Speaker 2: An increase, no increase from when? What does that measurement
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  Speaker 2: window look like. We did request decklogs and multiple floyas
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  Speaker 2: from the Navy, so hopefully we'll get those back and
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  Speaker 2: can review them independently. But until we do, all we
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  Speaker 2: have is our first hand reporting and accounts from these
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  Speaker 2: family members who are experiencing this and living at day
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  Speaker 2: after day.
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  Speaker 3: We've been hearing Donald Trump say the straight of war
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  Speaker 3: moves is open. Everything is open, okay, which we know
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  Speaker 3: is not true to the extent he's implying. The USS
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  Speaker 3: Abraham Lincoln has been a part of that mission, and
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  Speaker 3: we are hearing these reports from on board. A congressman
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  Speaker 3: tweeted out a report saying that basically, five thousand sailors
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  Speaker 3: are on board. They're on month nine of what was
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  Speaker 3: supposed to be a seven month deployment, and the conditions
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  Speaker 3: are horrendous. Moldy showers, broken toilets, no hot water for weeks,
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  Speaker 3: meals that were down to half a cup of rice
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  Speaker 3: and two tortillas, stores out of deodorant, toothface, all this stuff.
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  Speaker 3: The Navy is saying, look, we haven't seen anything. Literally,
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  Speaker 3: their statement is we have not observed an increase in
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  Speaker 3: suicidal ideations and that they're taking it seriously. But I
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  Speaker 3: feel like this is not a random rumor like here,
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  Speaker 3: how could things get to this point?
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  Speaker 4: Every day you know, you may have this that occurs
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  Speaker 4: kind of generally in the Navy. But I think it
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  Speaker 4: is clear this is a ramp up book. When I
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  Speaker 4: went to a.
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  Speaker 3: War investigation, do you think there should be an.
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  Speaker 4: Absolute hundred percent? Yeah. When I went to war, like
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  Speaker 4: as an air force, my deployments were three months because
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  Speaker 4: we would time out. We could only fly so much.
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  Speaker 4: But if you got extended even a week, it was
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  Speaker 4: like a blow to morale. Really. I'd be there and
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  Speaker 4: it's like, hey, you can't leave this Saturday. It's gonna
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  Speaker 4: have to be next Saturday. It's like, oh, and I
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  Speaker 4: wasn't even married. These guys and men and women having
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  Speaker 4: been extended multiple times that is a huge blow to morale.
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  Speaker 4: And then if the Navy, which they aren't giving them
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  Speaker 4: an end date saying we're going to be out of here,
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  Speaker 4: and you know in two weeks or three weeks. And
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  Speaker 4: then on the food side, fresh fruit stuff like that
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  Speaker 4: that has to be taken out by ship out into
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  Speaker 4: the middle of this dangerous area, so it's difficult to
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  Speaker 4: get it out there. It's difficult to get it out
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  Speaker 4: there fresh. If you do get fresh fruit, you have
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  Speaker 4: to eat it pretty quickly because you can't keep it
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  Speaker 4: on board and it just creates pre.
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  Speaker 3: You're talking fresh fruit. I mean at this point, I
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  Speaker 3: don't know if there's like an MR or something. You're
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  Speaker 3: talking a cup of rice, and the doctor's saying people
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  Speaker 3: are going to start losing their minds.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I think the other reason we care about this is
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  Speaker 3: because the Navy is being asked to sustain a massive
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  Speaker 3: mission and do we have the ability to do that?
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  Speaker 3: Is this a red flag?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah?
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  Speaker 4: This is a huge red flag. I mean, and plus again,
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  Speaker 4: the administration is saying we're going to sustain this closure
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  Speaker 4: of the strait, which is totally open that we control.
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  Speaker 4: We're going to sustain that indefinitely until Iran relents. How
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  Speaker 4: long is that going to be. We just had an
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  Speaker 4: aircraft carrier in the Caribbean, by the way, for whatever reason.
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  Speaker 4: So look, I'm not going to question where the Navy's
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  Speaker 4: sending these assets, but if we're going to maintain a
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  Speaker 4: blockade there, there's going to be some things that give.
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  Speaker 5: Joining me now is Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton, a
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  Speaker 5: Marine Corps veteran who served four tours in Iraq. He
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  Speaker 5: also sits on the Armed Services Committee, and he is
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  Speaker 5: running for Senate. Congressman Thank you for being with us,
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  Speaker 5: and what was your reaction when you heard these accounts
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  Speaker 5: of sailors attempting to go overboard.
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  Speaker 6: I mean, it's horrific, but sadly, I'm not surprised. I mean,
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  Speaker 6: we have a president, a commander in chief who's made
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  Speaker 6: fun of troops for mental health issues. We have a
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  Speaker 6: Secretary of Defense who's more folkocused on testosterone tests than
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  Speaker 6: actually keeping our troops alive. But the piece that I
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  Speaker 6: think we don't talk about enough is that our troops
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  Speaker 6: can do extraordinary things. And I've had deployments to Iraq
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  Speaker 6: that were longer than nine months. But you've got to
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  Speaker 6: believe in the mission, and nobody can participate in this
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  Speaker 6: Iran war that's been a total failure. It's actually backfire.
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  Speaker 6: It's done more to empower Iran, which now controls the
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  Speaker 6: world economy, which they've never done before in their history.
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  Speaker 6: It's really hard to be excited about that mission. There's
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  Speaker 6: no one who believes in it right now, and that's
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  Speaker 6: got to be one of the toughest tolls on our troops.
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  Speaker 5: You heard the Navy. They tell us that they aren't
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  Speaker 5: seeing an uptick of mental health issues on the USS
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  Speaker 5: Lincoln and they're saying they have plenty of mental health
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  Speaker 5: resources available. Listen, you're on the Arm Services Committee. Is
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  Speaker 5: that statement good enough for you?
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  Speaker 6: Absolutely not, and we will be conducting an investigation to
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  Speaker 6: get to the bottom of this. Zero suicides is the
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  Speaker 6: only acceptable number. And I'm speaking not just as a veteran,
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  Speaker 6: but as the co author of ninety eight eight the
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  Speaker 6: National Mental Health Hotline, a service that I made sure
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  Speaker 6: was available to troops, even troops overseas. It's pretty obvious, though,
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  Speaker 6: that these troops are not getting the mental health support
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  Speaker 6: that they need. And it's our job in Congress to
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  Speaker 6: get to the bottom of that.