Since the focus has been on the sailors of the USS Lincoln, I will comment…briefly…on my experience on an aircraft carrier.
I worked on the flight deck of the USS Nimitz for the entire 6-month deployment, launching aircraft during combat operations, 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.
After leaving the Navy, I briefly worked as a nurse in a correctional facility (prison)
I have said many times, if I had to choose…to spend another 6 months at sea, doing the work I did then, in the conditions I did that work, or spend 6 months in a medium security prison..as an inmate… I would choose the latter.
It’s some of the toughest, most dangerous work on the planet. I collapsed into my “bed” each night…every night.
Only a miserable fuck like Donald Trump, who has never done an hour of hard physical labor in his life…would make an ignorant ass comment like, “…not long enough..” when a reporter asked him if he felt the Lincoln deployment was too long.
Mike