Di USS Abraham Lincoln don finally dock for San Diego, California, after more than 300 days for sea. Families many waka reach Naval Air Station North Island before sun rise on Thursday to welcome di thousands crew members.
Around 4am, sky still black, 19-year-old Pvt Grayden Monroe and him mama na di first military family members to arrive. Dem sidon on metal bleachers wey dey overlook dark water. Monroe dey wait for him 21-year-old sister wey dey aboard di carrier. Di soldier wey dey stationed for Fort Campbell wear him army uniform for di occasion.
“I hope she’s proud of me,” e talk about him sister, “and I hope she knows damn well that I’m just as proud of her.”
As sun rise, thousands of people flood di base for di USS Lincoln long-awaited return. Di atmosphere be like festival: live band, performers on stilts, therapy dogs, handmade signs, giant cutouts of sailors’ smiling faces. People cry, laugh, scream with joy.
When di Lincoln show for middle distance around noon, e round corner past downtown, cheers burst from around di bay. Sailors stand for edges of di ship in uniform, dey wave to crowd and dey call loved ones. Below American-flag bunting, rust stains dey visible on di sides of di carrier. Di massive, city-like ship don finally reach land.
Military families and friends don long for dis moment for months. Di Lincoln first leave San Diego last November, with expected return sometime in spring. But as US and Israel launch war with Iran, dem divert di aircraft carrier to Middle East, extend di deployment for roughly 5,000 sailors and marines onboard for amount of time wey nobody know then.
Di Lincoln deployment end up span 321 days, including 264 consecutive days at sea without port call, a record in modern naval history, according to Department of Defense. For months, sailors report hazardous living conditions onboard: shortages of food and basic supplies, spate of suicide attempts, and general sense of deteriorating mental health and declining morale.
Di reports immediately set off political firestorm. Democratic lawmakers call for investigation. Donald Trump and US defense secretary Pete Hegseth try downplay di situation. US Navy confirm last month say eight service members from Lincoln and accompanying strike group attempt suicide since deployment start.
After dem announce Lincoln return home in August, e take almost two long months for carrier to come back to San Diego. E make brief port call for Thailand, then trace route east across Pacific Ocean.
But for naval base on Thursday, di scene no be total euphoria. One infant in stroller get sign wey read: “I have waited 234 days to hug my daddy!” Di baby mama, Brenda Rivas, talk say she dey five months pregnant when her husband deploy. He miss di birth, and first time he see him daughter over video call na six months later.
“It’s mixed emotions,” Rivas talk. “I’m more sad than excited because he did miss so much.”
Emotional reunion for pier no dey for everybody, especially many military families wey scatter across country. Dawn, a mother wey ask make dem use only her first name because she fear retaliation from military officials, dey anxiously watch live feed of ship arrival from small town for Texas. Her eyes “glued to the TV” for hours. Her son na service member on Lincoln.
“I couldn’t sleep. Tossed and turned,” she text early Thursday morning. “I’m feeling so happy for my granddaughter to see her daddy!”
Dawn imagine say scene for San Diego go too chaotic, so she dey fly to California next week to reunite with her son and him five-year-old daughter. She plan to help him “get everything back in order”: make sure him house clean, cook some home-cooked meals.
Over past 11 months, one thing keep her son sane and tethered to reality off di ship, she talk. “He said that all he could think about was his daughter,” she talk. “That’s what got him through all this.”
As sailors float around globe for past year, relatives sidon for house dey wait, wondering wetin dey happen thousands of miles away on ship. Dawn son send her updates via WhatsApp whenever he get service. Last spring, he tell her conditions dire.
“Like 3rd world …” e write for message. “We couldn’t get soap or toothpaste.” He send her pictures of mold dripping down walls, dwindling daily rations: sectioned cafeteria trays with only few compartments full. Two hard-boiled eggs and watery soap. A scoop of grits and few limp noodles.
Di extended deployment, long working hours and supply shortages seem to take toll across ship, especially on younger sailors, Dawn talk. Nearly half of all active-duty military members dey 25 years old or younger. She fit imagine her son, wey now dey him 30s, being like father figure to some wey really struggle. Reports of some sailors attempting to jump overboard true, her son tell her.
“My son’s a tough kid, so he could take it,” she talk during phone interview last week. “But for those 19-year-old kids that go on a first deployment, it’s scary for them.”
One of worst parts for Dawn na unsolicited commentary, on Facebook and Instagram and for real life, wey talk say even if ship conditions rough, sailors probably just couldn’t hack it. “That’s exactly what people were saying about the people in the military: that they’re babies, and that back in 1969, or whenever they were [serving], it wasn’t like that,” she talk. “I couldn’t even read the comments. I’m still upset about it.”
Those sentiments even come from Trump, wey tell reporters dis summer say Lincoln deployment “not nearly long enough”. That kind remark change everything about how Dawn view president. “I like President Trump. I voted for him. But I don’t really think he understands,” she talk. “Let his son be out there, just for a couple days, and see how it goes. If he really would tolerate that, if his son could really take it – I’m sure he couldn’t.”
For brief press conference on naval base Thursday, Capt Daniel Keeler, commanding officer of Lincoln, answer several questions from journalists about consistent reports of poor conditions on ship. “[Most of those issues] occurred in March and April, while we were engaged in active combat operations against a very determined foe,” e talk. “Immediately once combat operations started, we were, I would say, a little bit challenged to get the normal fill of things. But I had enough food, I had all the supplies I needed to conduct combat. We never missed a mission. I also never missed a meal.”
Meanwhile, Hegseth again play down those same issues on Wednesday, talk instead say “a few folks in the media” aim to “turn” ship deployment “into some sort of symbol of dysfunction, or a symbol of low morale or a symbol of a failed mission”. Keeler focus most of him comments dis week on success of mission. “For most of my sailors, this was their first time away from home, their first deployment, their first experience with combat,” e talk. “I understand the anxiety that might have caused, but I can tell you this: our team of professionals on the ship led every single one of those sailors through that experience. And the great majority responded how sailors always do, with honor, courage and commitment.”
Now Lincoln don return home after unexpectedly grueling and high-profile deployment, sailors remain to determine wetin next. Some next steps immediate. Monroe, di 19-year-old, talk say him family excited to take him sister out to dinner tonight – but then she back on duty tomorrow. After trials of past year, more serious takeaway for Monroe na him sense of wetin fit happen during deployment, and just how tough isolation fit be. “When shit hits the fan, everything just kind of sucks. Especially when they’re out there on their own. It’s really just you and the guy next to you,” e talk. “So getting stuck there and being able to push through something like that – I don’t think I could have done it, honestly.” Him sister, e add, na “probably one of my biggest role models”.
For Rivas, di wife whose husband miss their daughter birth, she go switch from being single parent for year to parenting as team again. “It’s gonna be different, teaching him how to take care of her,” she talk. “But she’s good with people, so I’m sure she’ll adjust.”
For Dawn, as Texan and someone wey talk say she still wouldn’t vote for Democrat, she waka away from USS Lincoln experience with very different outlook on Trump. Majority of those in her small town and family na lifelong Republicans, but controversy surrounding Lincoln don cut jaggedly across traditional party lines. “It’s really hard for me because I just wanted [my son] to be OK. And I just, I don’t know …” she talk, her voice trail off over phone. “I’m just not really happy with President Trump right now. At all.” As for wetin her son think about di fraught deployment, she talk, e probably too soon to tell how dis experience go shape him life and career. But e don put some things into perspective. “He just wants to live for his kid,” she talk. “He wants to see his daughter grow up.”
