How tough do I think the men and women of the USS Abe are? Plenty tough. Our sailors are well trained. I would put my money on the men and women of the United States Navy any day of the week - and twice on Sunday.
Before I went in the Navy, the motto I kept hearing was "join the Navy and see the world". Sounded good to me. I really wanted to go to sea. Make my own memories. I signed up for all "bird farm" (carrier) ratings I could when I was in boot camp. As luck would have it, my scores on the battery tests showed I had some kind of aptitude to do a different kind of work other than aviation. And that work led me away from a sea billet. Out of 21 years in the Navy/Naval Reserve, that was my biggest disappointment.
Lately I have been wondering, if I had gone to sea right out of boot camp, and was stationed on a pre-Nimitz era carrier off the coast of Viet Nam, could I have toughed it out? That being said, if I were younger, and in the Navy today, and stationed aboard the USS Abe Lincoln, could I have handled a 265-day deployment without going bat poop crazy? It is easy to sit back in my easy chair and judge what is happening off the coast of Iran right now, but I wonder how many of us have the mental toughness to "soldier up" and keep on mission like we are asking of the crew of the USS Abe.
For a young man or woman, 265 days is like an eternity. I get it. I do, however, have a hard time believing that with today's underway replenishments, that the Abe was running out of food - especially milk. When I was stationed on an Army Base in Okinawa, the chow hall only served powdered milk. The good news? The milk never ran out (until we could not get water during the drought). The bad news - powdered milk tastes like crap. But nobody starved and we all made it to the end of our duty rotation.
I know time drags when you are on station doing an important job. I know for young men and women they are wondering if this will ever end. But it will end. And good or bad, they will be part of a record setting deployment. As time goes on once this deployment is over, they will have a story to tell. For some, it will be bragging rights. For others, they will just want to get out.
It is times like these, that the leadership of the ship's CO, XO, Chiefs, Officers and lead petty officers must be as sharp as a tack. Yes, leadership. This is when real leaders, lead. Is it tough being on station for 265 days? Heck yes, it is tough. But the young sailors who endured this record setting deployment could or should come out of this deployment tougher and better.
How tough do I think the men and women of the USS Abe are? Plenty tough. Our sailors are well trained. I would put my money on the men and women of the USS Abe any day of the week - and twice on Sunday.
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