The Navy Kept a Carrier at Sea for 260 Days. Trump Says That Wasn't Long Enough.
About this episode
The episode discusses the extended deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln and the implications for sailors and military strategy.
The USS Abraham Lincoln left San Diego last November for a routine six-month deployment. It has now been at sea more than 260 days with no return date, sailors have reportedly tried to go overboard, and Senator Blumenthal's letter to Navy leadership says the ship has gone more than 200 days without a single port call. Asked about it this week, President Trump said the deployment wasn't nearly long enough. Mike, who flew F/A-18s off carriers for the Navy, walks through what that actually means day to day: flight deck crews working fourteen-to-sixteen-hour shifts in 110-degree heat, hauling thousand-pound bombs by hand, in one of the most dangerous working environments on the planet. Below deck, sailors running the engineering spaces climb ten flights of stairs just for a few minutes of fresh air, and most never see daylight for months at a time. Mike doesn't hedge on the comparison: sailors on the Lincoln are working harder, in worse conditions, than the president criticizing them ever has in his life. Neal pushes the conversation toward the strategic question underneath the human one. The military can surge, but surging for what? With the Gerald Ford having just finished a…
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