Thursday. After nine months at sea, roughly 240 straight days without a port call, sailors trying to go overboard, and a war that never ended in four weeks... the USS Abraham Lincoln is finally coming home. It took reporters, families, and Congress to force it. Day 173 of the “4-week” war. Here’s what you need to know.
It’s finally over. The USS Abraham Lincoln turned for San Diego on Thursday after the USS George Washington arrived to relieve it, ending one of the longest carrier deployments in modern Navy history: about 5,000 sailors and Marines, some 272 days out, more than 240 of them without a single port call. This did not happen because the Pentagon decided the crew had suffered enough. It happened because families spoke to reporters, because outlets kept publishing, and because lawmakers demanded answers. It should never have come to that and investigations need to answer a ton of questions.
Trump’s new plan, announced today: an “Economic D-Day!” A “crushing economic operation” to strangle Iran financially now that his envoys have stopped talking to Tehran altogether. Iran fired back Wednesday and Thursday, calling the threat a distraction from Trump’s failure to win the war, with some Iranian lawmakers now openly pushing to quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That’s the exact outcome this whole war was supposedly launched to prevent.
Even as the Iran war exposes how fast America burns through missiles, and even seeing how Ukraine has kicked Russia all around the place with drones, and even as a cheap Iranian drones hit US bases, the Army is shutting down the one unit it built to master drone warfare. The 173rd Airborne’s 600-soldier experimental drone battalion, will present its findings after fall exercises and then revert to a plain infantry battalion. It’s part of a “back to basics” push by the Hegseth-aligned acting Army chief, reversing an initiative from the predecessor Hegseth fired in April.
San Diego families are counting the days until the Lincoln docks, but the ones who spoke out during the deployment aren’t celebrating quietly. One sailor’s mother told reporters the Navy needs to “take some accountability for what’s going on with your ships, in your war.” Therapists who work with military families are warning that reintegration after a deployment this long and this traumatic is its own hard road: excitement tangled with anger, kids who have to relearn a parent, sailors who need time and care the system isn’t reliably offering. It’s good they’re coming home, not good their well-being was so neglected.
Did we miss anything? Pop the link in the comments!
Important: If you or a service member or veteran you know is struggling, the Veterans Crisis Line is free, confidential, and available 24/7: dial 988 then press 1, or text 838255
.
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.