• kersploosh@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    Ballpark numbers: USS Abraham Lincoln has about 5,000 people on board. And it is part of a larger carrier strike group that totals maybe 7,500 personnel. You need a long, strong global supply chain to serve that many people for months on end as they travel halfway around the world. Iran has apparently broken the chain in some key places.

    Mental health is a separate problem. The Abraham Lincoln’s planned 6-month deployment is now at almost 9 months and counting, with no publicly announced return date. Wikipedia says the ship has only stopped at port twice in that time. So the sailors on board have been stuck in close quarters, away from their homes or loved ones, getting shot at in a war zone, for 3 months longer than expected, and with only two brief breaks. It’s not hard to understand that they might be exhausted and strained. Multiple sailors have tried to jump overboard and at least one sailor actually did it without being stopped. That’s not a supply chain problem; it’s a top-down organizational fiasco.

    • andrewta@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      With that username I have to ask if you are prior service Navy? And I agree with your assessment, it’s a leadership issue.

      • kersploosh@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        No military background here. But through family and friends I have had a lot of interactions with military folks, and I’m loosely interested in military stuff.

        My username is due to living near water my whole life, and enjoying being in and around it. I love fishing, paddling, swimming, skipping stones from shore, watching osprey catch fish, all of it.

    • GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca
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      2 days ago

      Like the old saying. Armchair generals talk strategy (and maybe testosterone levels). Real generals talk logistics (and maybe if their troops fuck).