08/19/2026
The USS Abraham Lincoln has been at sea for more than 250 days, an extraordinarily long deployment for the roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard the aircraft carrier.
Originally deployed in November 2025, the Lincoln was redirected to the Middle East as the conflict with Iran intensified, resulting in multiple extensions to a deployment that was initially expected to last about seven months. The ship has gone more than 200 days without a port call, according to recent reporting.
In recent weeks, reports about conditions aboard the Lincoln have raised concerns among military families and lawmakers. Families have described food and basic-supply shortages, long workdays, and mounting mental-health concerns. Most recently, family members told Navy Times that multiple sailors had attempted to go overboard amid the extended deployment.
The Navy has disputed reports of an increase in suicidal behavior while acknowledging the strain of a prolonged deployment.
The concerns aren’t limited to mental health. Families have also reported shortages of food, water and hygiene products, as well as other difficulties caused by the ship’s unusually long time at sea. Senators have now called for answers about the conditions aboard the carrier and the decisions that led to its extended deployment while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called conditions “completely misrepresented.”
But what does it actually feel like to have a spouse aboard the Lincoln right now?
We Are The Mighty spoke with the spouse of a sailor currently deployed aboard the carrier, who requested anonymity because their service member remains aboard the Lincoln. Their account offers a more complicated picture than the headlines alone can provide—one in which the challenges are very real, but so is the resilience of the sailors facing them.
“Multiple extensions have definitely been something that was unexpected,” the spouse tells We Are The Mighty.
Now, after roughly nine months at sea, the sailor’s message home is consistent.
“They are tired. They have been working really hard for a very long time, and they’re just ready for a break,” the spouse said. “They’re ready to come home.”
But there is another message the spouse wants people to hear—one that can be easy to lose amid the increasingly troubling headlines surrounding the carrier.
“The crew is extremely resilient,” they said, adding their sailor has repeatedly emphasized that the crew has overcome an enormous number of challenges during the deployment and continued to do its job.
“Maybe that part’s not being talked about as much,” the spouse said. “The crew has really risen to the challenges that have been placed in front of them over the past nine months.”
For the families watching from home, one of the hardest things to explain is the psychological toll of spending so much time aboard a ship with so little opportunity to step onto land.
“I just don’t think that people really understand the strain that that puts on them as individuals,” the spouse said.
The sailor remains level-headed and able to find positives in difficult situations, the spouse shared, but the fatigue is unmistakable.
“I can hear the fatigue and sense the fatigue in them when we are able to communicate,” the spouse said.
That concern has taken on new weight as reports emerge about sailors struggling with their mental health. The spouse said they do not have firsthand knowledge of the specific incidents reported in the news, but said there is a broader sense of exhaustion aboard the ship.
“They just need a break,” the spouse said. “There has been no—or very little—release valve for this pressure that has built up over the course of their deployment.”
The spouse said their sailor has told them that chaplains and other mental health resources are available aboard the ship and that they feel they have someone to talk to if needed. Still, from home, the spouse remains concerned about the mental-health support available.
“I have a healthy level of concern around the mental health care that they’re receiving or not receiving now, and then what that looks like when they are back home,” the spouse said.
Reports of shortages aboard the Lincoln have also become part of the larger story surrounding the deployment.
The spouse said the food shortages were a significant concern earlier this year, particularly when the conflict first began, but emphasized that the situation has improved substantially in recent months.
“Some of what has been reported in the news lately is accurate, but outdated information,” the spouse said, underscoring that that distinction is important. Conditions aboard a ship operating continuously in a conflict zone can change, and the spouse acknowledged that every sailor’s experience may not be identical.
But the shortages went beyond what this military family had experienced during previous deployments.
The sailor had prepared for the possibility of running short on certain supplies, bringing extra hygiene products before leaving. Even with that preparation, the spouse eventually began sending food, soap, toothpaste and other basic necessities.
“Some of it has made it to them, and some of it has not,” the spouse said.
“I know that my spouse would not have been asking for those things if there wasn’t a shortage,” they said.
“It wasn’t like they just went with a week’s worth of stuff,” the spouse said. “They were prepared for there to be lean times for some of that. Some of that is just normal in a deployment, but this went beyond what we had experienced in the past.”
The strain isn’t confined to the ship.
Communication with home has been inconsistent throughout the deployment. There have been periods when the spouse barely heard from their sailor, followed by periods of more regular communication.
“You get used to hearing from them and not hearing from them, and you just kind of have to go with it,” the spouse said.
For families, though, that uncertainty can make following the news especially difficult.
They are watching reports about the ship while simultaneously trying to determine what those reports mean for the person they love.
“It’s very strange to read about things that are happening to your spouse or your family member, your sailor, in the news and wonder: Is this true? Is this not true?” the spouse said.
A family town hall was held last week, providing an official avenue for families to raise concerns. The spouse did not attend, saying they did not believe it would be a productive use of their time, but noted that the ship’s captain has also sent letters to families throughout the deployment, which the spouse said helped keep them informed.
Through it all, though, their sailor remains their most trusted source of information.
The spouse believes the families of the Lincoln will need support just as much as the sailors when the carrier finally returns home.
Military families are accustomed to being told they are resilient. They’re accustomed to hearing, “I don’t know how you do it.”
But this deployment, the spouse said, is different.
“Our family members have been at the helm of this conflict the entire time,” they said.
The spouse has heard some people dismiss concerns about the Lincoln by pointing to their own military experience saying they have deployed, endured difficult conditions, and simply consider it part of the job.
But they don’t believe that comparison is fair.
“I do feel like this deployment is extremely unique,” the spouse shared, adding that the distinction matters because the families are experiencing the consequences alongside their service members.
The spouse believes it took significant negative media attention before some of the concerns surrounding the Lincoln received broader attention.
“What we need more than anything is for our service members to be supported,” the spouse said.
If the spouse could ask Navy leadership one question, it wouldn’t be about who is responsible for the current conditions aboard the Lincoln.
It would be about what should have happened before the conflict began.
“I would want to know what strategic planning did or did not happen prior to the conflict starting to ensure that our service members’ needs were met,” the spouse said.
And then comes the question that may matter most beyond the Lincoln:
“How do we learn from that planning or lack thereof to prevent this from happening to another ship in the future?”
Because despite the concerns, the spouse doesn’t want the sailors aboard the Lincoln remembered solely for the worst headlines emerging from their deployment.
“There are a lot of extremely valid concerns with what’s happened over the past nine months on this ship,” the spouse said. “At the same time, the service members have worked so hard.”
“You can agree or disagree with the conflict, or the administration, or the government, or the decisions made around this. It doesn’t really matter,” the spouse said. “They’ve kept up with an incredible pace under very, very, very challenging conditions.”
When asked what they want people to understand, the spouse shared that the story aboard the Abraham Lincoln isn’t simply one of shortages, exhaustion or mental-health concerns. It is also a story about thousands of sailors who have continued showing up, doing their jobs and carrying out their mission under conditions that few people back home can truly understand.
“At the end of the day, these sailors need to be recognized for the work that they have put in,” they said.
