A sailor who jumped off the USS Lincoln aircraft carrier last week was in the water for about an hour before he was rescued, his wife told MS NOW in an exclusive interview.
The wife, who was granted anonymity to describe sensitive mental health issues said she was not contacted by Navy officials about the incident until four days after her husband jumped off the ship on Aug. 3.
“I think that it was handled very poorly because they didn’t inform me and they didn’t want me to know, and they’re just trying to cover this up,” she told MS NOW in an exclusive interview as she awaits her husband’s arrival back to San Diego after he was medically evacuated off the ship.
She learned about what she described as a suicide attempt after one of her husband’s friends on the ship messaged her that someone from his squadron went overboard, she said. Later, that friend told her it was her husband, according to messages reviewed by MS NOW. Unable to reach him, she reached out to the ship’s ombudsman in hopes of receiving more information.
Her account contradicts what Navy leadership told family members of the sailors and Marines serving on the Lincoln during tense in-person and virtual town hall meetings last week. Navy officials said they could not comment on the medical records of individual service members, to protect patient privacy.
Many family members are concerned about potential exhaustion, low morale and the mental health of those onboard, as the aircraft carrier’s deployment at sea appears to have been extended twice during the ongoing Iran war, with no clear end in sight.
In the nearly 200-person meeting inside a banquet room at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego on the night of Aug. 6, families repeatedly confronted acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao and other Navy leaders about accounts they had heard of a sailor who went overboard.
One of the Navy leaders responded by saying that he was aware of the situation and that an investigation was ongoing, but added that it was unclear at the time if the sailor jumped off or fell off.
That comment was met with anger from the audience, according to two people who attended the meeting. The Navy leader went on to say the sailor was back on board and believed to be “fine,” which was also met with jeers in the room.
On Friday, Aug. 7, the day after the fiery town hall in San Diego, the wife said she finally received official communication from the Navy.
An email from the command master chief of the squadron, which was shared with MS NOW, said her husband “is safe and sound onboard and will be returning to San Diego soon to receive support from Balboa,” a naval medical center there. “Upon landing in San Diego, he will be taken to Balboa and then once checked in, they will inform him of your visiting hours,” the email stated.
The email went on to say that one of the chiefs would be communicating with her to keep her informed, and that her husband had no access to his phone but would give her a call once he did. The message also said that the flight to leave the ship would happen “within the next couple days.”
The wife said she had not been able to stay in regular communication with her husband, who is an aircraft mechanic on his first deployment, because the internet signal on the ship was unstable and inconsistent. She said when they did talk he expressed that he was homesick and exhausted.
In the last text exchanges she had with her husband on July 21, before he went overboard — messages she shared with MS NOW — her husband said he felt the boat was finally getting to him.
One text message read: “i think the boat is finally getting to me and i really dont think i can keep up my peace act anymore, you are right about it all not being okay, we were supposed to leave 5th fleet on july 15th but then something had to come up and my last hope of being home soon was gone, im really trying to not feel negative or hopeless but between the wifi and not knowing when i will come home and not knowing what is happening back at home, its really getting me, i dont think i can do another deployment after this and i dont even know if i can finish this deployment.”
The wife said that her husband went to his chain of command and the medical team on the ship and expressed concerns about his mental health, and apparently told them he was not doing OK. The wife said her husband said they kept brushing him off.
She also said her husband expressed concern that his prescription contact lenses had expired and that he was having trouble seeing and doing his job properly. He works on helicopters on the carrier’s flight deck, and told her he believes it had led to accidents there.
“Every single time he would make a mistake, they would yell at him, and he would get into a lot of trouble,” she said. “He would explain to them that he can’t see because his prescription was expired, but they still allowed him to work.” Navy officials said they could not comment on the specific medical conditions of sailors.
She went on to say, “I think that also had a big toll on him because he could have injured a lot of people and he could have injured himself, because that’s what they kept yelling at him every time he made a mistake.”
“I just really don’t know what to say about all this, because it’s so, because it’s so, it doesn’t feel real to me,” she told MS NOW.
The young couple, who are both 19 years old, met when they were in middle school, and share a 7-month-old baby girl, who was born while he was deployed on the Lincoln, and a three-and-a-half-year-old son. She told MS NOW she hasn’t been able to process all of this because she is busy with her kids and doesn’t want to break down in front of them.
She said her husband joined the Navy “because we had had our son at a very young age,” and “he wanted to be able to provide.” She said he has been enlisted for two years.
Other families who spoke to MS NOW have expressed concerns for the mental health of their loved ones on board the Lincoln.
“We have not observed an increase in suicidal ideations aboard the ship,” a Navy spokesperson said in a statement. “We take every service member’s well-being seriously and have medical and mental health professionals available to assess and address concerns as they arise. Our medical professionals continually monitor for trends to ensure issues are identified and addressed early. To protect patient privacy, we will not discuss individual service members or their medical information.”
Currently on board the carrier are five chaplains, one clinical psychologist, one clinical social worker, three behavioral health technicians and an “embedded integrated prevention coordination counselor,” according to a Navy official. This team serves the 5,000-person carrier and its accompanying vessels.
Cao, the acting Navy secretary, told families at the in-person town hall that officials would look into sending more health specialists on board, according to the two people who attended the meeting. It is unclear if any specialists have indeed been sent to support the current staff.
The Lincoln left its home port of San Diego on Nov. 21 and has set a modern-day record during the ongoing Iran war for the most continuous days at sea. The ship has only stopped twice, once in Guam on Dec. 11 and then on July 7, when it briefly pulled into Oman — keeping the crew at sea for 208 continuous days.
In addition to mental health concerns, family members have repeatedly expressed worry about the living conditions and food supply on board the carrier.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., sent a letter to Cao and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday expressing concerns about the Lincoln strike group, citing widespread reports of basic supply shortages, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns and disruptions in the mail system, as previously reported by MS NOW.
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., posted on X on Wednesday that he has requested the Navy allow a bipartisan group of senators to visit the Lincoln to investigate the conditions on board.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
The post ‘The boat is finally getting to me’: Wife of USS Lincoln sailor who jumped overboard shares texts appeared first on MS NOW.
