Op-Ed: The USS Abraham Lincoln – What’s Next?

In recent weeks we have seen numerous headlines concerning our nation’s military, the management of resources, the care of our service members on the USS Abraham Lincoln and, more recently, the attempt to control the independent and free-press covering the Armed Services. What initially started as a two-week exercise, for the USS Lincoln, evolved into a routine deployment to the Sea of Oman beginning in November of 2025. However, after a series of extensions, a sailor jumping overboard and reports from sailors to home about onboard conditions, the nation learned that the USS Lincoln had been at sea, without any land or port time, for over 270 days, no decent replenishment of supplies and food, and no plans for redeployment back to home station. 

It was reported that our Sailors, and Marines, were living with broken plumbing, lack of personal hygiene products and substandard rations. Concerns about the physical and mental health of the crew began to surface and the length of its deployment was still indefinite at that time.  This was not the first time that the Navy had to deal with these issues.  Mental health, onboard ships, continues to be a concern of the Navy after three sailors died by suicide within a week, aboard the USS Washington in 2022. And there is concern that the USS Washington, and other carrier groups, may be experiencing the same inferior conditions today.

The USS Washington arrived in the region on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, allowing the USS Lincoln to begin the 4–5-week journey back to the home port of San Diego California. Even with an end in sight, the women and men still face an extended period of time to contend with the deplorable conditions. These conditions are the result of poor planning, a lack of respect for our Sailors and Marines, and incompetent leadership. Additionally, it shows that those making these decisions have not prioritized the well-being of those that they deploy.

This is not a partisan issue: it is a moral issue. These are our Sailors and Marines who have been treated so indifferently, who are standing in the fray on the orders of our foreign policy makers. We should be outraged. As a nation we are far better than this, when we ask our daughters and sons to wear our nation’s cloth and endure long workdays, sacrifice family/friend relationships and potentially risk being injured or killed. Acknowledging that deployments are challenging, and grueling, under any circumstances, at the very least they should be able to depend on us to ensure that they are well nourished, spiritually nurtured and physically cared for.

The conditions of the USS Abraham Lincoln came to light, as my office has been working to respond to other attacks by this administration on our military chaplains.  In June the Department of Defense reduced the list of Religious Affiliation Codes from 210 to 30, reducing how a service member can identify spiritually. This was followed by a Department of Defense memo mandating that chaplains would no longer wear rank on their work uniforms. Without consulting the ecclesiastical endorsers, the Department of Defense proposed that new standards for evaluation and promotion, for chaplains, were being developed.  These decisions were made without properly consulting those who work in the field and are the most affected by these changes.

On Friday, August 21^st, there was a shake-up in the staff at Stars and Stripes, an independent news source for the US military.  The Department of Defense justified the action by claiming that the three staff, including the Editor in Chief, were insubordinate during a CBS interview: they maintained the editorial independence of the publication. And while the USS Lincoln was on its return voyage to the States, one of its crew’s fathers was arrested as the administration rolls back immigration protection for military families.  Actions such as these are unjustifiable and it is my hope that in the days ahead there will be moments of accountability for such inexcusable policy making.

Everything being considered, there are serious attacks being made on our nation’s service members and their families.  We are called to be more aware of how our leaders make decisions and how our military is being deployed and cared for. We must not let these issues fade away in the myriads of non-stop attacks.  It is time to reach out to our representatives and give them a voice in future discussions concerning the welfare of our men and women in uniform.

The Rev. Stephen Boyd is the Minister for Government Chaplains and the Ecclesiastical Endorser for the United Church of Christ.  Chaplain Boyd served as the Area Group-Qatar Chaplain from 2005-2006 on 545-day orders with the Army during Operation Enduring Freedom. After serving three years in the Pentagon Army Chief of Chaplains Office, Rev. Boyd assumed the role of endorser in August of 2011.

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