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The top U.S. military commander in the Middle East visited<\/a> the USS Abraham Lincoln on Saturday as the aircraft carrier\u2019s exhausted crew nears the end of a nearly nine-month deployment marked by reports of deteriorating living conditions and mental health concerns.<\/p>\n Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, spent several hours aboard<\/a> the Lincoln meeting with sailors and Marines during a 10-day tour of the region. It was the only ship Cooper visited<\/a> during the trip.<\/p>\n The visit comes as scrutiny grows over conditions<\/a> aboard the carrier, which left San Diego in November and has now been deployed<\/a> for more than 260 days. The Lincoln has gone more than 200 days without a port call while supporting U.S. operations in the war with Iran.<\/p>\n Families have reported food shortages, problems with drinking water, broken showers and laundry facilities and growing psychological strain among the roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard. Reports<\/a> of sailors attempting to go overboard have further raised concerns about the crew\u2019s mental health. The Navy has acknowledged mental health cases but disputed reports that the ship is experiencing a broader crisis.<\/p>\n The administration has largely dismissed the criticism.<\/p>\n Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a> has said reports about conditions aboard the Lincoln have been misrepresented. President Donald Trump<\/a> went further Friday, telling reporters that the carrier\u2019s record-setting stretch at sea was \u201cnot nearly long enough<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Families of deployed sailors have pushed back<\/a>, accusing Trump and Hegseth of dismissing what their loved ones have experienced aboard the ship.<\/p>\n Sen. Ruben Gallego<\/a>, D-Ariz., a Marine Corps veteran, blamed<\/a> the administration Sunday for what he called a \u201ctrue lack of leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n Retired Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week\u201d that morale aboard the Lincoln has improved<\/a> since sailors learned they will finally be coming home.<\/p>\n Start your day with essential news from Salon. Relief, however, comes with a strategic cost.<\/p>\n The USS George Washington, the Navy\u2019s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, is being pulled<\/a> from the western Pacific and sent toward the Middle East to replace the Lincoln. The move<\/a> will temporarily leave the western Pacific without a U.S. aircraft carrier even as China increases military activity in the region.<\/p>\n The Lincoln\u2019s return date has not yet been announced.<\/p>\n Read more<\/p>\n about the state of the U.S. military<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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