"They already have such little stuff out there with them. Imagine losing your underwear, your toothbrush, your toiletries. Families are sending packages, but deliveries are often suspended due to the ship's changing locations."
"Being gone for that long, it's got to be tough on anybody, especially when they only get a short amount of port visits where they get to really sleep in a normal bed, eat some normal food and take a shower."
The USS Gerald Ford has completed over 10 months at sea, setting a record for the longest post-Vietnam war deployment by a carrier. The deployment has taken the ship from Europe to the Caribbean and now to the Middle East amid ongoing military operations against Iran. Sailors faced challenges, including a fire that displaced 600 crew members. Families have struggled with delayed packages, and sailors have limited port visits, making the long deployment particularly tough for those with little experience at sea.
Read at www.npr.org
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