Sailors and Marines line the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2021 as it leaves San Diego. Recent news stories about its deployment to the Middle East describe shortages of food and supplies and low morale after more than 260 days at sea.

As I hugged my husband pier-side in Bremerton, Wash., last winter, I exhaled for the first time since our tearful farewell earlier that year. 

The aircraft carrier on which he serves had just returned from a grueling nine-month deployment. It had been rerouted to the Middle East, and its tour had been extended several times to meet mission requirements. Communication was often spotty during that period. Even though our messages were short and infrequent, his exhaustion was painfully apparent. 

After two carrier-based aircraft crashed into the South China Sea within 30 minutes of each other in October, I worried whether the crew aboard my husband’s ship could continue operating in a hazardous environment without further incident. Personnel aboard both aircraft were rescued, and investigations into the cause of the accidents are ongoing. It is every military family’s worst nightmare that a flag-draped casket will replace the long-awaited homecoming reunion.

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I immediately recognized the same fear among the families of sailors enduring substandard living conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. As dozens of media outlets reported last week, sailors aboard the Lincoln have described disheartening conditions aboard the ship, shortages of food and supplies, and severely low morale after more than 260 days at sea without a........

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