Daniel Wolfram
The sailor who tried to take his own life after being stranded on the Navy ship with poor living conditions is in danger of losing income.
As reported earlier, the Navy ship USS Lincoln that was stranded in the Arabian Sea during the unexpected, prolonged war with Iran had such poor living conditions that some sailors were trying to leave the ship in fatal ways.
One of them attempted suicide by jumping off the ship. Luckily, he survived and has since returned home to American soil.
That did not stop the Navy from bringing several charges against him, for which he may now pay the price.
Try to jump off the ship, face punishment
Around 5,000 sailors and Marines on board the USS Abraham Lincoln have spent the last nine months deployed in the Middle East in regard to the ongoing war with Iran.
The poor living conditions and hardships for the 5,000 deployed are well documented, with one sailor even trying to commit suicide before being evacuated to San Diego and hospitalized. But now that same sailor may face the consequences of trying to get off the ship.
According to his wife, the sailor has since been discharged, but now he is facing internal punishment by the Navy.
A very young sailor struggling
The sailor is being charged with violating Article 83 for “malingering,” which is defined as a member of the Navy “intentionally faking an illness or hurting themselves to avoid work, duty or service,” and Article 86 for “absence without leave,” which means a service member failed to be at their required place of duty without proper authority.
The sailor’s wife laments the Navy’s decision to charge her husband. “I think they’re insane for doing this to people who need mental help,” the wife told MS NOW. “Instead of giving them help, this is just another huge stressor.”
The couple are both 19 years old and share a three-and-a-half-year-old son whom he had not seen for almost a year. He was unable to get paternity leave granted, and his wife alleges that during his return to San Diego he was not seen by a therapist or psychiatrist and was told to immediately return to work at home base after he was discharged from the hospital.
Texts tell the story
The story and the subsequent punishment has lawmakers asking questions about how mental health is being dealt with in the Navy, especially during an ongoing military conflict. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has dismissed these criticisms and is doing an ongoing cultural overhaul with the primary focus on a “warrior ethos.”
“No one should be punished for getting the mental health care they need,” said Representative Sara Jacobs from California. “I will continue to call on the Navy to provide our Sailors with the necessary support they deserve and will continue doing oversight to ensure that is the case.”
Texts that the sailor’s wife has presented to MS NOW show that he was mightily struggling during his deployment. “i think the boat is finally getting to me,” wrote the sailor to his wife after he learned that his stay on the ship would be drawn out.
Thirteen days before he decided to jump off, he wrote about feeling trapped and hopeless about his deployment being extended. “i don’t think I can do another deployment after this and I don’t even know if I can finish this deployment,” he wrote.
