CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – The way we treat the people who volunteer for the military says a lot about us. And the way the sailors on the U.S.S. George Washington have been treated is a disgrace.
Five sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier committed suicide, including three deaths in one week.
Here are three facts about what’s happening there:
Fact one: The George Washington is being re-fueled and retrofitted. The project is behind schedule, and has taken about four years. The fundamental problem is that some crew members have been recalled to the ship, meaning they’re expected to live onboard.
Fact two: When sea-going sailors are recalled to on-ship duty, they lose their other military housing. And since work on the George Washington isn’t finished, the sailors are living in a construction zone. What’s that been like? Constant noise during the day and night. And some periods of time without electricity or air conditioning. It’s been stiflingly hot below decks, and it’s impossible to sleep.
Fact three: Complaints from sailors have been ignored or downplayed. Some crew members have been sleeping in hotels, far away and at their own expense. Because of heightened security, they still don’t get enough sleep because of how long it takes to get on and off-base. Others have been sleeping in their cars.
This is more than bureaucratic incompetence. It’s breathtaking disrespect for those who serve. And it is a pattern in the Biden Administration’s Defense Department. These are the same people who kept National Guard troops in Washington D.C. for weeks after Joe Biden’s inauguration to fend off imaginary threats. And those guardsmen got to sleep in a parking garage.
I’m Chris Conley
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