USS Lincoln Sailor Told His Mother 'Get Me a Gun and a Bullet' | TMZ

Initially, this was supposed to be just a regular deployment. So I don't think that they were prepared for this long haul. Things just kind of happened suddenly. But they had gone out November-ish, and the last time that they had actually seen a port was around December. And then they had not docked. Usually they dock within every 30 days or so, depending on what's going on in the world. But I did notice that around April, he started letting me know that supplies were starting to dwindle, mostly like shower supplies, shaving supplies, which is expected right around that time. But typically they port so they can restock on things. And then just from there, April, May, June, the morale changed. Now, mind you, I really want to clarify, my son is not whining, okay? He was made for this. None of our soldiers are sitting here saying, we expect a cruise ship by any means. But the morale has been the bigger thing, not knowing when they're going to go home, not knowing what's happening, not knowing what the expectation is for them. And then probably around last week, he had come off of a 16-hour shift. And I asked him just generally, how are you? How are you? And he said, you know, I'm doing great. Do you want to see my tray? And he sent me a picture of what looked like a pile of dog meat or dog food. And I asked him, you know, what else is there? And he said, no, that's it. This is great. I love it. I don't know. He's being facetious. And I was a little bit appalled. And then he had to go. I mean, he had to go pull watch for six hours, so I didn't get to talk to him any further. But he did actually send me evidence of what he was eating. So, Danielle, when you said that the morale, you noticed that the morale started to be lower, what made you feel like the morale was lower? What was being said that made you feel that way? Sure, it was just, my son is very strong and he is out there doing his job. He's been very committed to being a sailor for the last five years. Not usually want to complain. If anything, he's made all his qualifications. He's made rank. But whenever I started asking him over the last three months, you know, what, how do you feel? And when his generalized answer is, well, just get me a gun and a bullet. LOL. I know that there's something wrong. There was one point I believe was right around June. He did tell me that the analogy that he used for his exhaustion and his level of morale was that he said, do you remember the American horror story? I think it was Murder House. He said, it feels like everybody here is dead, but we don't know it yet. Not necessarily claiming that people were dying or suicidal, but he was just trying to explain what it felt like to be trapped and not know what is happening or what's going to be happening. So my understanding is that there was an end date for the deployment. It was extended twice. And then the sailors were told that it was indefinite. And so I'm hearing you where he is raising obvious concerns and shocking concerns, frankly, about a gun and a bullet. But I'm curious about something else that I've heard other parents talk about this, and they're very reserved. And, you know, they want to make it clear that their kids are tough, that they're not complainers. But, you know, there sounds like there's something to complain about. Yet people are reluctant. Is it fear of retaliation or what? I don't know if it's fear of retaliation. I served briefly myself. So I think it's just this general old school attitude of suck it up. Suck it up. This is the military. This is what you signed up for. Just push through. And I don't think that's not that's not even the case in this. I think that they are men and women have been pulling through. I think it's that we're not meeting their physiological need. Food, sleep, sanitation, basic security. I mean, these are all prerequisites for human performance. I mean, I'm a registered nurse myself. We treat our patients in this aspect. If we don't have what we need to survive, how do we get well? So the same aspect for our soldiers. How do you expect them to be able to take care of national security, global security, but you're not giving them the tools they need to be successful? Yeah, I hear what you're saying. And obviously that's going to affect their performance. Do you feel any better knowing that? I know they said they're sending a ship, but there's no I haven't heard a deadline. George Washington is on the way. Yeah. And they're going to eventually go to port. Apparently, the Washington is in route. I can tell you that since they've gotten this notification that Justin speaking with my son, his overall positivity, I don't get to talk to him. I've not heard his voice since November. We only get message. But I can hear the change in his messages. There's definitely a sense of relief in his tone. Is there any reaction to Trump saying the conditions are great, that it's fake news, that they should be there longer? Has he reacted to that? My son, they don't know what's going on in the world right now. They don't have access to any media or any news or communications outside of the encrypted messaging that we have. They don't they know nothing about this. What do you think? I support President Trump. I mean, I can disagree with the statement. I think, you know, I think that maybe he wasn't referencing maybe not not long enough was probably mostly in reference to we need to be in the street longer, not necessarily that ship, but just generally speaking about military power.