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Sailor who jumped off USS Lincoln facing discipline · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Breaking tonight, exclusive new MS Now reporting on the U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Navy sailor who jumped from the USS Lincoln in what
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  Speaker 1: his wife says was an attempt to die by suicide
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  Speaker 1: after months at sea. His wife revealing to MS Now
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  Speaker 1: that the Navy is punishing her husband for the episode.
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  Speaker 1: which happened on August 3rd. She spoke to MSNOW in
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  Speaker 1: the condition of anonymity to protect her privacy. According to
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  Speaker 1: the charging documents reviewed by MSNOW, the sailor is accused
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  Speaker 1: of faking illness or injury to avoid duty and of
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  Speaker 1: absence without leave. A commanding officer will decide his punishment
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  Speaker 1: and his pay could be docked by half. His wife
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  Speaker 1: tells MSNOW the Navy is, quote, adding, quote, another huge
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  Speaker 1: stressor for anyone with mental health issues. Joining us now,
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  Speaker 1: MSNOW Pentagon reporter Priya Shruthir. She co-authored this exclusive reporting.
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  Speaker 2: I can't.
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  Speaker 1: Get angry enough about this. Someone is hurting badly enough
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  Speaker 1: that they are willing to jump into hostile waters off
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  Speaker 1: of a carrier. And then this is how they are treated.
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  Speaker 1: Like their state of well-being is just a joke and
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  Speaker 1: they're trying to get off of their duty.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, this was shocking to me as someone who
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  Speaker 3: has served in the military, as you know, and it's
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  Speaker 3: just heartbreaking. This young man is just 19 years old.
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  Speaker 3: I was telling you guys he actually had a baby
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  Speaker 3: while he was on this deployment. He also has a
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  Speaker 3: three and a half year old son. And now he's
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  Speaker 3: facing these disciplinary charges. It's going to be dealt with
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  Speaker 3: in the nonjudicial punishment process, which is like a step
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  Speaker 3: below the court martial process. It's a little less lengthy.
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  Speaker 3: It doesn't involve as many resources and a conviction won't
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  Speaker 3: necessarily follow this individual into the civilian world. But I
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  Speaker 3: think the larger question here is how is the military
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  Speaker 3: dealing with these mental health crises, especially on the backdrop
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  Speaker 3: of these record-breaking deployments, right? You guys remember I spoke
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  Speaker 3: to so many family members of the service members on
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  Speaker 3: the Lincoln, and they were telling me that they're very
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  Speaker 3: concerned about the mental health of their loved ones. And
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  Speaker 3: so to see that this is the way that the
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  Speaker 3: Navy is dealing with this sailor, I think, is very
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  Speaker 3: surprising to a lot of people.
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  Speaker 4: This is the text from the officer to his wife
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  Speaker 4: before the suicide attempt on July 21st. I want to
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  Speaker 4: read it for folks. I think the boat is finally
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  Speaker 4: getting to me and I really don't think I can
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  Speaker 4: keep up my peace act anymore. You are right about
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  Speaker 4: it all not being OK. We were supposed to leave
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  Speaker 4: Fifth Fleet on July 15th, but then something had to
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  Speaker 4: come up and my last hope of being home soon
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  Speaker 4: was gone. I'm really trying to not feel negative or hopeless,
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  Speaker 4: but between the Wi-Fi and not knowing when I will
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  Speaker 4: come home and not knowing what is happening back at home.
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  Speaker 4: It's really getting to me. I don't think I can
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  Speaker 4: do another deployment after this, and I don't know if
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  Speaker 4: I can finish this deployment. The men and women, the
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  Speaker 4: folks that serve in the military, particularly the folks in
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  Speaker 4: this gentleman who was on the USS Lincoln, they are
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  Speaker 4: willing to die for this country. The reason they couldn't
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  Speaker 4: get off the boat is because in the region where
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  Speaker 4: they would have been able to deplane, to deboard, if
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  Speaker 4: you will, that base was damaged. That port was damaged
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  Speaker 4: to the point where they couldn't get off the boat
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  Speaker 4: to even go there.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 4: Their lives are in such peril. So we talk a
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  Speaker 4: lot about how we need to support our veterans. My
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  Speaker 4: Republican friends up and down the Wuhan, my Democratic friends
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  Speaker 4: are always like, no, the military is a thing that
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  Speaker 4: brings us together. And how in the hell are Donald
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  Speaker 4: Trump and Pete Hegseth getting away with treating our men
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  Speaker 4: and women of the military like this? This is sick.
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  Speaker 4: It's despicable. I want people to read Priya's story, folks.
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  Speaker 4: Just the first couple lines had me gasping for air.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that, you know, you hit the nail
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  Speaker 3: on the head, Simone. These people are willing to put
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  Speaker 3: their life on the line for this country. And I
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  Speaker 3: think it's been really shocking to see the way the
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  Speaker 3: Navy has handled incidents like this and mental health crises
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  Speaker 3: like this. You know, this young woman told me that
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  Speaker 3: when her husband jumped off the ship, she didn't hear
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  Speaker 3: from the Navy for five days. She found out about
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  Speaker 3: it from one of his squadron mates, and then she
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  Speaker 3: repeatedly reached out to the Navy. So just imagine that
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  Speaker 3: your loved one is deployed to the other side of
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  Speaker 3: the world, and you find out that they fell into
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  Speaker 3: the water. You have no way of contacting them, and
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  Speaker 3: nobody is telling you anything about this. He was then
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  Speaker 3: medically evacuated to San Diego, and she just told me
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  Speaker 3: today that he was in a hospital for five days.
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  Speaker 3: And the first time he has ever had a therapy
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  Speaker 3: appointment for any of this was today. almost two weeks
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  Speaker 3: after he made it back to San Diego. So she
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  Speaker 3: initially felt as though the Navy was trying to brush
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  Speaker 3: this under the rug, that they didn't want her to
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  Speaker 3: know about what happened. And now she's even more shocked that,
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  Speaker 3: you know, they're not treating him in a medical way
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  Speaker 3: or trying to evaluate his mental health. Instead, they're trying
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  Speaker 3: to punish him for jumping off the ship.
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  Speaker 2: So here... U.S. Navy statement says that we strive to
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  Speaker 2: foster environments that support mental health by removing barriers to
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  Speaker 2: seeking health. And here they are prosecuting, punishing the individual
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  Speaker 2: who needs help. MSNOW's Priya Sridhar, thank you so much
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  Speaker 2: for being with us. Folks, if you or someone you
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  Speaker 2: know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach
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  Speaker 2: the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline. org.
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  Speaker 2: Please seek the help.