Exhausted crew, low morale, grueling shifts and shortages of food and essential supplies. This is the situation reported by family members of some of the more than 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, operating off Iran as part of the war launched by President Donald Trump. According to testimonies collected by Ms Now, some service members have been served as little as half a bowl of rice and two tortillas for a meal, while the ship’s store has reportedly run out of soap, deodorant and toothpaste. Relatives also describe broken toilets, moldy showers without hot water and entire weeks without laundry service.

“Morale is not good,” said Bonnie York, whose stepson serves on the Lincoln. “Apparently the ship’s doctor or therapist said they need to make port soon or people will start to lose their minds.” The carrier arrived in the Middle East in January after leaving San Diego in November and, according to Fifth Fleet spokesman Tim Hontz, has now exceeded 250 days of deployment. Hontz acknowledged it is a difficult situation for the crew but maintained that the Lincoln “remains fully capable of performing all assigned missions.” Democratic Representative Sara Jacobs said she is “deeply concerned” about personnel fatigue and mental health.

Criticism has also come from relatives who voted for Trump in the last election. “He dragged us into a war we shouldn’t be in,” said Nicole Conrad, the mother of a sailor, urging Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth to inspect conditions on board in person. York said she had supported Trump “because he said he would not go to war,” but now believes the armed forces have been pushed “to the limit.” In April, Hegseth had described reports of food shortages aboard the Lincoln and the USS Tripoli as “fake news.”