Over 200 sailors have moved off the USS George Washington aircraft carrier after multiple deaths by suicide among the crew, including three in less than one week in April, according to the Navy. CNN's Oren Liebermann reports.
#CNN #News
Hear former sailors on Navy aircraft carrier describe working conditions
May God Protect our Troops
God is clearly punishing America ! SLAVA RUSSIA 🙏🏾🇷🇺🖤🇷🇺🖤
TRUTHhttps://youtu.be/kGvVRLimirk
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Ok. so where is the protection from your god ?
This is absolutely ridiculous that this has happened 😡
TRUTHhttps://youtu.be/kGvVRLimirk
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Absolutely ‼️‼️‼️
If our sailors have to hide their identity… what does that say about the UNITED STATES NAVY?!!!🤨
@Liam Davies it’s always been that way ya ding dong
@Matt Kennedy too many snowflakes
Condolences to their mothers, fathers and families members
TRUTHhttps://youtu.be/kGvVRLimirk
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Honestly, I was a Marine in a BLT (battalion landing team) element on ship in ‘08 for a MEU- and uhhh life on ship wasn’t much different even back then, on every ship I was on (08 was wartime too so i was probably on those ships when they were upkept most/best in the last like 40 years) we’d have potable water outages, bathrooms flooded, no food for the chow hall, constantly… and as Marines we got to get stacked up like sardines in our racks and berthing areas to begin with. This ship covered (USS GW) is clearly worse than what I had, but my point is it’s not even surprising. This isn’t some anomaly of a ship.
But as a Marine, legit you’re treated like garbage 24/7/365 anyway so we were pretty conditioned for awful life, I can ABSOLUTELY understand sailors going insane on board though. I’ve always said I’d happily spend 8 months getting shot at in 120F weather living in tents in the desert again over a single month on ship. I never understood how sailors could handle it, not cause of the living conditions but because of how isolating, claustrophobic quarters and above all the brain-piercing constant Navy whistles over the intercom all day every day. My mental health diminished a lot on ship and I was never even on for more than a month at a time. So I sympathize with those poor sailors.
@Cori W. legit! In terms of serving the same time i mean… I was on the Ashland myself (out of Norfolk)
I’m glad I didn’t join the Navy and opted instead for the Air Force. I always heard of terrible quality of life issues with the other branches, issues that were confirmed by fellow coworkers in sister services with whom I worked over the years.
As a retired sailor, I can’t argue with you on that. The air force has always but their service members before the mission.
I had a Navy Psychiatrist tell me in our very first meeting “I don’t know what you expect me to do”
This was back in late 1988-1989. After which I was brought to Captains Mast end was stripped of Submarine Service ribbon, Sea Service ribbon, reduction in rate, 6 months restriction at the end of which I was discharged honorably. I had 5 years left on my contract.
I am so sorry 😢 … 88-89
Things should have improved by now but apparently not .
What part of the UCMJ did you violate? Sounds like there is more to this than you are telling.
I never heard of ribbons being taken away
@Matt Kennedy I agree. Never of that before.
I well remember the shipyard carrier overhaul environment, and even though the old Lexington was only in Philly for 10 months in ’84-85, a lot of the kids in the crew were
having a rough time. During overhaul, the workdays are long and uncomfortable, creature comforts are few and far between and sleep on your 24 hour duty day (3-section duty, in effect) is hard to come by. But the C.O. moved the crew ashore during the worst part, winter with no power on the ship, so that the crew were spared the worst. We had no suicides, but did suffer some drinking and driving deaths and some assaults that ended in hospitalizations and court martials, and one fatality in a work party aboard a sister carrier collecting spare parts from the hulk. So even a short overhaul done sensibly can’t seem to bring a crew through totally unscathed.
@Christina Law I was thinking that the conditions these sailors had to deal with remind me of the Russian military . We all seen how crappy Russian military performs
Imagine doing a whole 5 year tour in drydock. Mind numbing.
@YouTube oppressive censorship Exactly, this reflects badly on the officers that they can’t keep the ship supplied with food, and get basic maintenance problems fixed. It sounds like the housing options in the area are limited, but seriously these guys are supposed to be problem solvers.
I love when people say “I support the troops” but when issues like this or veteran affairs come up, they do nothing. This woman sounds like she he heavily invested. Good for her.
The playing politics always comes long before they Might act!
I served during the reports of the navy paying $2,000 for a toilet seat or $2,500 for a hammer that you could buy for under $20 at the local hardware store. And those reports were true!
truthhttps://youtu.be/3RVEXAp6PuU
By this woman, you mean the “Congress-woman” right?!
@Vic Marc settle down Vic. You know what he’s saying. Stop trying to twist it.
I really feel for the crew of the George Washington. Living aboard a ship sucks under normal circumstances. Making them live aboard a ship during a year’s long yard period is unconscionable. It’s not wartime. There really is no excuse for it. At the very least living barges should be made available or, better yet, barracks on shore. I’ve BTDT.
I was on a submarine in the early 1980s. The last two years of my enlistment were spent at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire. It probably wasn’t as bad as what the crew of the George Washington is going through, but it definitely was not a good time. At least we didn’t have to live aboard the sub while it was being overhauled and refueled. Given a choice I would much rather be stationed on a ship that was active in the fleet, rather than one that is in a yard period for an overhaul and refuel.
It’s been 5 years so far and another 19 months to go.
During and after my time in the Army and as a veteran, I often said, “The military doesn’t need more money. It needs officers who know how to spend it.” This is a prime example of that problem. Too many times I’ve seen the Army hemorrhage money. Too many units have a ‘use it or lose it’ mentality towards the budget. So officers spend money on stupid things one year instead of being able to save it for better things the next year. Better equipment, better training, refit, and so on. Fixing the living conditions probably didn’t happen because they didn’t have the money for it, money was sent somewhere else where it wasn’t really needed because the units spent all of its money last year so it got it again this year. But that unit probably spent it on something stupid. I’ll give two examples. In Korea, they replaced a perfectly fine large screen TV for a slightly larger screen TV because of the ‘use it or lose it’ mentality. Later, the water heater was found to be inadequate, but they already pissed away the money on the TV that no really used and no one asked for. The Tank platoon next door was pissed at us for having a brand new barracks and buying a new TV when they still have old craptastic barracks that our granddads probably slept in during the Korean War! The Tank platoon couldn’t get stuff fixed because some of the money was sent to us to buy a useless TV. When I was retraining into satellite communications, I went to the worst unit I ever saw, Fort Gordon in Georgia. They spent a crap ton of money to build a fake base to do training in. We arrived there and went right into training for Iraq, now I just came back from Iraq along with a combat medic and someone in the infantry who were also just coming back from Iraq. The people running it were from Signal Corp (radios and communications) and none had combat patches on (In the Army, veterans wear patches on their right sleeve of the unit they went to war with) and they were trying to train us veterans what Iraq was like. They hated us, because we made it a point to correct every mistake they made, and they made tons of them. This stupid little fake base cost a lot of money. The only reason it was so someone could get promoted. There was a lot of that there at Fort Gordon. The barracks we were assigned to were in a huge need of fixing. There was a huge problem with black mold and lots of people were getting sick from it. They couldn’t fix it because they spent the money on that stupid fake base. We had one person try to commit suicide because they couldn’t take the stupidity and being sick all the time and no one doing anything to fix things. One soldier got fed up and contacted their Senators and Representatives over and over and sent pictures till he got a response. The worthless captain and the worthless First Sergeant got pissed and asked him and his classmates why didn’t they come to them first instead of going to Congress. He flat out told them the truth, “I would have, if I thought you gave a damn and would have done anything about it. But people had tried, and you did nothing!”
It’s important to know how to whistle-blow when appropriate
I still remember hearing a chief on my ship say living in the barracks is a “privilege.” I honestly thought to myself I think it’s huamn neccisity as well. You can’t expect people to live on the ship , after awhile it ways on you mentally and emotionally.
We’re already overworked as it is.
As usual action is being taken AFTER something tragic has happened.
When I was on the Dwight D Eisenhower and we went into dry dock for a year and a half this was far from my experience.We all transferred and lived on a medical ship an went over to the carrier to work every day. If I didn’t have duty that day I was off about 4:30 pm and could go the medical ship and then go out if I choose. They could be using ships that have be decommissioned as a different area for the sailors to use. This is a horrific story and my heart goes out to these sailors and the family who have lost loved ones. The military can do so much better.
As a marine I spent some time on a LST never in dock, it was rough but we were by all intend just visiting we had water shortages but nothing huge, I can understand why these folks were not quartered somewhere else. Sounds kind of rough, not sure whats going on, have a hard time believing a capt would let this fly.
You got off at 430!
@Dog Sense Yes and anyone that had duty stayed and worked later
That should should be the correct way to support these crews. Have them reside on a housing ship or during refit or repairs. I’m going to check out Google Maps and see the layout if the yard to see if they have room to support a decent housing ship.
@Fred A It’s NOT the presidents to blame. It’s the command not demanding better conditions for their crews. And the politicians working against each other. They should make sure the crews are placed in living quarters on another living ship or better accommodations while these ships are getting repaired/ refitted. Their sanity are at stake here.
It’s frustrating to hear what those sailors are having to put up with. 🙁
On a more positive note – I can say that my local VA hospital is first-rate. 😊
As a veteran I served onboard two DE/FF, an LPD, a DEG/FFG, an LST and a CV, six ships all in all… But never did I experience such deplorable conditions or recall experiencing the mess decks running out of food and/or provisions for the whole crew in port, at sea or on deployment for 6 to 8 months at a time, or while in the shipyards for upkeep and refitting…The Navy that I grew up with in the 50’s and 60’s, served in the early 70’s during the Vietnam Era till the early 90’s upon my retirement and after that are probably three different navies… I guess I was lucky, but it all boils down to the leadership up and down the chain of command, I had then…
In the yards we had a separate barge for housing accommodations/galley of the active duty section/s. The food also was much better as the rules allowed some frying which is not allowed at sea. Also if you wanted their was always a food truck nearby more than happy to take your $$That being said the yards is a different atmosphere than being at sea and I can easily see being overwhelming for younger sailors as compared to at sea where you spend much more time with your division and can practice your specific rate to include training and general knowledge of other divisions.
@JJ True! Roach coach was always available, but when docked and tied to the shipyards for overhaul or just regular upkeep the command as you said made accommodations for the crew that lived onboard to stay at the barracks and eat at the mess hall on base and were provided bus transportation to and from the ship… That’s what I remember!
Sounds like somthing Russians would have to deal with
Posting on here hoping that someone sees this:
I was on the Nimitz from 1999 – 2001 during that major refuel and overhaul. We where in Newport News Shipyard the entire time; however, most of the crew, E-4 and below were living at Ft. Eustis; E-5’s were living in apartment complex’s closer to the shipyard, and E-6 and above were given what was called BAH/BAS back then, extra pay for housing and food. The entire crew received BAS, extra pay for food. I’m confused, why were they still on the ship during the refuel and overhaul as the Navy had done this before, with the Nimitz being the first ship to do such a major overhaul. Even when we had duty and had to be on the ship for 24 hours, we had an area that was built that housed the mess decks, medical, admin spaces, and racks for us to sleep in, etc.
CNN needs to go to the Navy and asked them why the did not follow what they had done during the Nimitz overhaul. During my time on the Nimitz, we were PPE the moment you got on the ship, hardhat and eye protection. Depending where you worked you had to wear a gas mask to even walk most of the inner ship. There was no way we would have been able to live on the ship.
I just read this, and I wish I was in a position to do something about it. I can’t believe how incompetent the leadership has been on the USS George Washington. I can hardly find the words to express how depressing this story is.
I have my younger brother and one of my best friend in two separate destroyers and another best friend in an aircraft carrier. They’ve experienced the same thing. They regret joining the navy because of the working conditions and living conditions
Lack of quality sleep, especially in such a demanding job, will grind people down very quick. Not to mention you work and safety will suffer greatly.
If this is going to be a recurring problem then why not make a basic dorm nearby, or at least with good sound proofing. Being well rested, and time alone to decompress would do a lot…
My Dad served in the Navy during WWII. He was not abused!!!! He was proud to serve. He respected the military and they treated him with respect. Something is terribly wrong Now.
A fair point.
Perhaps you might consider that a different and far more insidious form of modern warfare is being waged today.
Instead of attacking a larger, far more powerful country with obvious weapons why not attack the “morale” of its military forces by making them live in third world conditions, aboard American fighting ships in American home ports.
The supply chains couldn’t be much shorter yet we read of little and poor food issues.
Having a major marine asset out of commission for years and not being on the oceans, and with disaffected crew members committing suicide much be an excellent result for Putin.
As earlier, who can prove Putin hasn’t subverted very senior decision makers within the administration into creating these conditions for your military?
Suggest you be very aware of those who try to suggest Putin couldn’t possibly be involved …
Don’t forget that’s exactly what he was trained for.
Serving onboarding US Navy surface ships in the 1970’s was a life of no warm water in showers at all, ever. Breakfast cereal with lots of meal insects, deplorable dry dock shipyard conditions, hatred directed at us by civilians who recognized us as military (except for the senior citizens who were frequently kind and thankful).
Those were hard times, serving in the navy. Makes me realize how good my life is today. If you’re serving in the military, thank you, and hang in there.
Thank you for your service.
Sounds like you were stationed in Norfolk. I experiences a lot of hate there even by police. People telling us we are not wanted or welcomed but I did get to see karma on many. Desert Storm happened and a lot of the Navy pulled out and headed to the middle east. I was in the Roosevelt strike group. Lots of places suddenly had no business, car lots closed due to lack of sales, etc, etc. Suddenly they couldn’t wait for us to come back after a couple months of us all gone. Thanks for your Service shipmate!