Congressional delegation visits USS Abraham Lincoln

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Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman. On this episode of KPBS Midday Edition, lawmakers went inside the USS Abraham Lincoln to see conditions for themselves. We'll talk about what they discovered. This is KPBS Midday Edition, connecting our communities through conversation. As the USS Abraham Lincoln makes its way back to San Diego, there's still a lot of questions about conditions aboard the ship. We've heard reports of limited food, hot water, and basic essentials like soap and toothpaste. All of that and only two short port calls. And now we know that at least eight service members attempted suicide during the 10-month deployment. Well, yesterday, lawmakers traveled aboard the Lincoln to see what it's like inside. That group included San Diego Representative Sarah Jacobs. They spoke with sailors and Marines on board to find out what life is like on the ship. Joining me to talk about what we know is Andrew Dyer. He's military and veteran affairs reporter for KPBS. Andrew, hi. Hey, thanks for having me back. Glad to have you here. So what do we know about the inspection that happened on the USS Abraham Lincoln yesterday?

Well, all we know is really what, you know, Jacobs is saying on her website that, you know, they met with leadership on the ship. They met with sailors and Marines. And, you know, she says that the sailors and Marines have given her a very different story than what the official line has been from the administration about those conditions. And she's, you know, demanding, you know, further investigations. And she wants the inspector general to look into it.

And you reached out to Jacobs, right?

Yes, yes. They were not able to speak about it specifically today, but they were kind enough to refer me to their website where she had the statement there.

How has this deployment of the Lincoln been different from other deployments?

In a lot of ways, really. The length, it's already been more than 10 months. That is very unusual, or until now has been very unusual. It used to be an eight-month appointment was pretty long. But yeah, now we're at 10 months. Not only was it extraordinarily long, but it was also – they didn't hit port for more than 200 days. They were consecutively at sea. And then the other way it was very different was that the main supply hub in the Fifth Fleet area of operation, which is Bahrain in the Persian Gulf – It was damaged very early by