• Zephyr@sh.itjust.works
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    6 days ago

    That happens on every deployment. There’s at least a few jumpers and a few suicides. One dude on one of my deployments killed himself by drinking liquid oxygen.

    • Puddinghelmet@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      The ship has not docked for more than 200 days. According to Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, that is a record in recent history for the number of consecutive days at sea.

      In recent weeks, family members of the crew have told U.S. media about exhaustion on board, food shortages, and poor sanitary conditions. Earlier this month, a sailor reportedly even jumped overboard. CNN (opens in a new window) reports, citing anonymous sources within the U.S. government, that the crew member was subsequently rescued from the water.

      The news outlet also reports that the U.S. Navy is dismissing the incident as a “mental health-related episode.” The crew member has been brought ashore for further care. Other crew members are also said to have attempted to jump overboard.

      There were already complaints about the food last April. Defense Minister Pete Hegseth dismissed the photos that surfaced as fake news.
      Source: Twitter/X

      Last week, during a meeting with Navy leadership, family members asked questions about the sailor who had jumped overboard. They were told that he was doing “just fine,” according to a reporter from the news channel MS Now. “Those present reacted with outrage.”

      Following all the commotion, the Navy issued a statement today: “We have not observed an increase in suicidal thoughts or attempts on board. We take the well-being of service members seriously and have chaplains, medical personnel, and mental health specialists available to assess and address any concerns.”

      Hegseth then reiterated today that reports of poor conditions were “completely exaggerated.” Nevertheless, the Navy announced this evening that the USS George Washington is en route to the Middle East, reportedly to relieve the Lincoln.

      The straight out lying tho

      • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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        5 days ago

        they could heat up that food with steam.

        Mashed raccoon peen with carrots? What are these guys complaining about?

      • Zephyr@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        200 would suck so bad. As for the food, that’s a normal thing also up to a certain frequency. Anyone wise enough keeps storage for a rainy day. Peoples circumnavigate or do 12 month deployments, but 200 consecutive days without a port is nasty. Idk how to explain, time stops existing on the ship. It could be a week, a month, a day, somehow it all feels the same.

  • postmateDumbass@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    IMO the USS Abraham Lincon is being used as a symbol of Trump’s hate for how the Civil War ended.

    He is treating those sailors like slaves as a sick joke.

    And hoping someone attacks it so he can retaliate. Israel will probably do it eventually when they come up with a cover story.

  • dan1101@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    I’m surprised it’s hard to jump into the water, it surrounds the ship and gravity exists. Or was the threat performative? Either way I can’t pretend to know what they are going through. But I also know I like my personal freedom too much to sign up for military service.

  • Chessmasterrex@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    The lack of sleep was the worst part of the long extended deployment period that I was on. Our work center had like three people doing rotating shifts standing watch, keeping equipment running. I’d be up all night and in the morning we couldn’t go to bed until after quarters and the XOs inspection of berthing, which was like 11am. But then it was lunchtime and after that we couldn’t sleep because of GQ drills in the afternoon. Basically when all that was done and over I had to go back on watch. There would be times I’d be awake for several days straight. When the stars aligned perfectly and I could get 8 hours straight, oh man it was the best sleep I ever had.

    • Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Yeah, I barely have memories from that time I was so sleep deprived.

      “You’re gonna reenlist, right? You’re a great sailor! Civilian life sucks, you just don’t even know.”

      “I was a civilian for a decade before I signed up. I know what’s it’s like. You don’t. No, I got the GI Bill now. I’m going to Colorado, to hike deep into the mountains without telling anyone where I’m going, and smoke myself into a coma.”

      And I did.

    • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today
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      6 days ago

      I’d be up all night and in the morning we couldn’t go to bed until after quarters and the XOs inspection of berthing, which was like 11am.

      Seems like a command staff seriously out to lunch. A good commander would recognize that letting your people get sleep they need is more important than making sure every bed is made correctly.

      • RumRunningDevil@lemmy.zip
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        6 days ago

        Yeah that’s… Not how the Navy does things.

        Sleep deprivation is the norm across the Navy, particularly in the engineering community and particularly in nuclear engineering.

        I would commonly go 36 hours without sleep, generally a few times a month. People keep this up for decades.

        • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today
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          3 days ago

          Given that the oversight and operation of nuclear reactors is a fairly simple and straightforward process with few consequences for mistakes and benign failure modes, I’m sure that operator error incidents due to sleep deprivation would have few consequences and are generally not worth preventing.

          • RumRunningDevil@lemmy.zip
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            3 days ago

            You don’t want to know about the number of times a fast recovery has been done asleep or a full plant startup is done by an RO who is actively blackout drunk.

            We all have, at least, one of those stories.

            • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today
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              2 days ago

              That’s fun. I’m really glad to know that. Thank you. :\

              Jokes aside- while I realize there’s lots of safety systems in place, this seems like a dangerous culture that’s long due for some change. In aviation, an awful lot of our regulations are written in blood, and we’ve gotten rid of a lot of the ‘we’ve always done it that way’ and ‘Captain always knows best no matter what’ / ‘Always listen to authority’ stuff because it literally kills people.

              I’m curious, if you’re willing to share, why we’ve not seen a major accident due to this sort of culture?


              Also in exchange for this fun information you’ve provided, I have some more fun knowledge…

              Pools. Everybody knows the chlorine kills germs.
              Thing is, chlorine has relatively little odor. When chlorine binds with organic materials it produces chloramine, which has a very distinctive chlorine-y smell. This happens very quickly with urine. In a properly maintained pool, ‘shock’ treatment is regularly done to burn off the chloramine.

              So when you visit a pool and you smell the chlorine, all that means is the pool is badly maintained and/or someone recently peed in it.

              Have a nice day :D

        • Jumi@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          That can only lead to excellent results and will never result in any mistakes whatsoever, I’m absolutely sure.

  • flandish@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    they must be bored as shit they aren’t getting to do the warcrimes they were promised when they volunteered for this.

    • HexadecimalSky@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      We can bash the inhuman agenda thre U.S. Federal government is pushing and we can implore soldiers not to follow any unlawful orders they are given while knowing there are many soldiers, especially on these navy vessels that didn’t volunteer for this, dont want to be there, and have no recourse.

      Americans had trouble separating Vietnam veterans and the government, lets not shun tired, traumatized young soldiers whose only fault was joing the military (wich many do to get out of bad life situations) and not wanting to die.

      • 0x0@lemmy.zip
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        6 days ago

        that didn’t volunteer for this,

        Is there a draft in the US now?

        • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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          5 days ago

          Id argue that for a lot of them they effectively were forced by economics, misinformation, and propaganda. The thing is a lot of these guys got in at 18 because it’s the only way out of a bad situation, hell I was almost tempted to do it as well though I’m too introspective and autistic to think it wouldn’t be a waste of time. But yeah a lot of these guys are distinctly missing the informed side of the informed consent concept IMO.

      • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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        6 days ago

        whose only fault was joing the military

        That’s a pretty big fault, though. Implied threats of varying morality aside, the only thing the US military actually does is imperialism.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        we can implore soldiers not to follow any unlawful orders they are given

        :-/

        I’m not giving my own online pleas for civility much of a chance against a screaming sergeant locking you in for three months of boot camp. Nevermind the downright satanic hazing rituals that Navy Seals and Green Berrets put you through.

        The military as an institution exists to burn the humanity out of it’s people. If you join, you’re signing up to do crimes, whether you realize it or not.

      • flandish@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        bad life situations

        some of which caused by a system designed to keep them in those situations and oh look, today at lunch in high school we get pizza and an army recruiter.

        yes, these are indeed “kidnapped” or “brainwashed” kids doing war crimes, for sure. and they need help getting out.

        but. the guy on his 2nd tour who then becomes a small town cop because he never saw “the shit” and walks the beat pretending everyone in his new england town is secretly a terrorist… he can fuck right off.

      • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Seriously. Anytime anyone even tries to, “thank me for my service,” I stop them cold. I tell them the truth. “I didn’t join to serve. I joined up for the same reason that 90% of us joined up. It was the least shitty option of a few terrible options, and paid for my college.”

  • BigTwerp@feddit.uk
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    6 days ago

    Ah, this explains why Trump is getting so angry that UK and Europe won’t deploy carriers to the middle east!

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      What carriers does he think they have spare? Britain only has the one, maybe two. France has one, italy has two. Anyone else in Europe managed to get one in the last few years?

      5 carrier groups isn’t really enough for force projection. That’s why we have 13 super carriers and 18-20 diesel carriers, we just call them Helo ships.

      Oh, I guess Russia also has .5 - .75 carriers, but as it’s only left port once, I wouldn’t be counting on any help there either.

  • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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    6 days ago

    Well if anyone wants to know how to have a shit navy and spend more then everyone else, here you are.

  • SecretSauces@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    I remember when I served and thought 9-month deployments were too long. That included port visits.

    9 months out without ever seeing land is cruel and unusual punishment. Especially in the heat of the Gulf.

    • mx_smith@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Yeah I remember Desert Storm when we were out to sea over 100 days they would have a party and break out the beer, 2 cans per sailor. It was a nice gesture since being out to sea without hitting a port for that long really messes with you mentally.

    • fake@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      Last port call was Guam, which it left 12th December 2025. So now up to 244+ days at sea, absolutely insane and inhumane. Previous longest was like 206ish. Could be another couple of months yet as Roosevelt hasn’t even sailed to relieve it. Could hit 300+ days at sea yet.

    • Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      6 days ago

      without ever seeing land

      Do you even see much daylight? I figured, especially on the bigger aircraft carriers, that you spend almost all your time below deck.

      • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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        6 days ago

        Eh, you can get to areas “outside” without much issue, not all the outside areas are the flight deck.

        That being said, these people are crammed in there doing work on a non normal rotation 24/7. It can not help that they are not doing anything worthwhile and also nothing really effective.

        • SecretSauces@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Your first point is correct. There are weather decks along the sides and aft of the ship, underneath the flight deck, where crew can be outside.

          But these sailors aren’t working 24/7 non-stop. Individuals have downtime to sleep, eat (obviously), and generally hang around playing video games, watching movies, reading, etc (this one is not so obvious). They would’ve had to bring an that stuff onboard before they left.

          Regardless, that’s like being stuck in your house for 9 months without ever touching grass. It’s just not sustainable psychologically.

          • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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            6 days ago

            But these sailors aren’t working 24/7 non-stop. Individuals have downtime to sleep, eat (obviously), and generally hang around playing video games, watching movies, reading, etc (this one is not so obvious). They would’ve had to bring an that stuff onboard before they left.

            I mean they are at sea and doing the 24 hour work rotations, its not 8 hours of work with 16 hours off. Not sure about us vessels but other navy’s I know of have multiple watches and while at sea your getting rotated though all hours. Its just not something you can expect from someone for these periods of time.

  • radiofreebc@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    I worked on an empty, out of service cruise ship during COVID and was stuck onboard for 195 days at sea. There were only 95 other crew members onboard…and only 3 women. I was the only native English speaking crew member. I’m still fucked up from the isolation.

  • wheezy@lemmy.ml
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    7 days ago

    Good. Not for the soldiers. I’m not trying to be an edgy leftist. But, this war will not end until Americans feel some personal loss or material impact to demand it end. So I’m not saying “good” to soldiers losing their minds. I’m saying it’s good that Americans read about their soldiers losing their minds.

    That war ends either through its ruling class being impacted by a stock market crash; or the working class being impacted by its death and material consequences and demanding change in meaningful ways.

    I wish it wasn’t the case. But there is a reason that they stopped showing flag draped coffins coming home during the Iraq war. They want you to forget about it and accept the gas prices as the new normal and the only impact on your life.

    They know Americans won’t do anything for another “dead Gaza baby”. But they know even the most right wing Trump supporter can only handle so many dead troops.

    Unfortunately, things will have to get much worse for Americans to demand an end to this war in any meaningful numbers. Or it’s ruling class can no longer milk profits from it and pull out leaving the mess they made behind. The later, unfortunately, being what will actually end it.

      • wheezy@lemmy.ml
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        6 days ago

        This is not accelerationism. Accelerationism would be actively working to make the conditions of the working class worse in order to bring about the material conditions that would result in revolution. Even an accelerationist should understand that the level of class consciousness in the masses would not result in a socialist revolution, but further scapegoating and fascism. Well, at least an honest accelerationist would.

        I do not believe in that and you’re confusing simple material analysis with accelerationism. You might want to at least read about what accelerationist believe. I am not one. But I’m not gonna pretend it just means anytime someone points to Americans being affected by the consequences of its governments foreign policy.

    • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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      6 days ago

      Except that most americans don’t really care about the troops. The troops are just a prop to be used for political pandering and virtue signaling.

      To the government, the troops are just property. They only take care of them for the same reasons you change the oil in your car. To preserve and maintain your property, keep it running in good condition so you can use it when you need to.

      Right now, this current administration is like someone who never changes his oil, and then complains about the car and calls it a piece of shit when it starts having issues.

    • FoxtrotDeltaTango@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      Honestly it will take a lot including oil costing more than $200 dollars a barrel

      Maybe if oil costs $2028 dollars a barrel, a depression and recession and mass famine and hyperinflation and mass unemployment

      Also I recommend the eyes left podcast