Marine veteran on challenges of multi-month deployment at sea: "Your daily life is really limited"

When John Tibbetts deployed aboard an assault ship similar to an aircraft carrier, the Marine from Dennis, Massachusetts, quickly learned that he did not enjoy life at sea.

"You're inside this basically big steel can," Tibbetts said. "Your daily life is really limited to the inside of that ship. There's no like windows. It's not a cruise ship."

Tibbetts experienced a multi-month deployment aboard the USS Bataan in 2009 as part of a Marine Expeditionary Unit. The ship traveled from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf and then headed to Haiti for a humanitarian trip. Tibbetts says the roughly 2,000 service members aboard learned how to navigate narrow bunk beds, constant noise from aircraft operations, and little to no time above deck.

"With only like five showers, a couple of toilets, and you got a couple hundred people in an area like that," Tibbetts said.

Now, congressional Democrats are probing whether sailors on a current deployment to the Middle East are experiencing the typical discomfort of life at sea or something worse.

In a joint letter signed by New Hampshire Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander and others to the acting secretary of the Navy, lawmakers raised questions about the conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier whose deployment has stretched past eight months. The letter cites reports from family members aboard the Lincoln that sailors are experiencing food quality issues and shortages and that some sailors have even tried to jump off the ship.

President Trump and the Pentagon are pushing back on reports of poor conditions aboard the Lincoln.

"And I know people on the Lincoln, they say it's beautifully maintained," President Trump told reporters. 

The military's top admiral toured the ship over the weekend saying it has the fewest cases of mental health issues among the Navy's 11 active carriers.

In a statement posted to X, Admiral Brad Cooper said deployment at sea is "uniquely challenging and tough, and every single one of us, including me, reacts to stressors in different ways." 

"I've long believed that mental health is another aspect of individual health and requires our attention just like physical health and spiritual health," Cooper added.