Deployed

The current trials and travails of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CV-72) during its deployment to support the conflict in the Middle East got me curious.

As you may have heard by now, more than 5,000 sailors on that nuclear-powered aircraft carrier have been deployed for more than 267 consecutive days in a war zone while experiencing unexpected problems, such as poor food quality, declining hygiene conditions and deteriorating mental health issues among some of its personnel.

Well, at least the carrots look OK.

 The length of deployment itself is not so unusual. Most vessels in the modern Navy can be at sea anywhere from six to nine months before being rotated out of frontline service.

So I looked it up.

What is going on right now isn't even the longest deployment for the USS Abraham Lincoln. 

In an article written for the U.S. Navy by Ensign Molly Fresher (who served on the carrier) in 2020, the Lincoln concluded a 10-month deployment of 295 days, at the time marking the longest carrier deployment in the post-Cold War era. Its theater of operations included the South China Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Suez Canal, the Strait of Hormuz, the Strait of Malacca and the Surigao Strait, all with the purpose of maritime stability and security.

In all, the carrier strike group, with its supporting vessels, covered 64,000 miles. Fresher's story was not clear if there were ports of call or if any at-sea resupply was involved, but I suspect there was. I don't remember hearing of any crew complaints about the mission at the time.

The longest U.S. Navy carrier deployment belongs to the USS Midway (CVA-41), which put to sea for 332 days during the Vietnam War from April 10, 1972, to March 3, 1973. The longest post-Vietnam era deployment was held by the USS Gerald Ford (CVN-78) of 326 days, from June 2025 to May 2026.

You have to go back to World War II to find the the longest continuous sea-time deployment during war time. The USS Hornet (CV-12, but not the Hornet that famously carried the Doolittle raiders {CV-8}. That one was sunk in the Battle of Santa Cruz in October 1942. Its namesake was commissioned in late 1943) was at sea for a whopping 495 consecutive days.

Soooo, given a brief history of long and longer naval deployments, why are we spitting salt water about the USS Lincoln?

If you go on Facebook, there are some interesting comments from the old salts who served in this man's Navy and have little time or sympathy for the complaints. "This is what the Navy does," or "It's the Navy, not the Princess Cruise Lines," or "You're not on vacation," or "Take away their cell phones so they can't call Mommy," or – best yet – "Beat Army."

Some are even questioning the man overboard story because, well, when they served, nobody jumped ship, diving 60 feet into a wide-open ocean. Who does that?

To tell you the truth, I can see both sides of the story. But I still tend to lean to the left on this one. 

If sailors are having mental health issues, where are the qualified mental health workers? Do we still have trouble diagnosing – and accepting – PTSD in the military?

If the food is so bad, or in short supply, can't MRE's be flown in until the deployment is over? You're an aircraft carrier, for crying out loud. Land some planes or helicopters with supplies. Hey, I've visited the USS North Carolina museum in Wilmington and learned they served their own self-produced ice cream to the crew during World War II. What's changed?

Are there not Plumber First Class ratings who can fix the USS Lincoln's gurgling toilets? You're at sea, for crying out loud. You're surrounded by water. Everybody on board should be a plumber.

I don't know how this is going to end. Will other crews start complaining? Will they have reason to? Or are the old salts right?

We're in 2026 and we're the United States of America. Deployments and rotations should be sensible, not to the breaking point. Service members should be supplied and properly equipped to get the job done. 

And it should start at the top. 

Balancing act

Not too long ago, Kim had me sign up for a class on better balance that was being offered at the Davidson County Senior Center.

This made sense to me on a couple of different levels.

 First of all, it always makes good sense to listen to Kim – even though it's taken me 46 years to figure that one out.

Secondly – not that I've been toppling over or anything – but I have noticed that as I travel deeper and deeper into my silver years, my sense of balance has become more and more suspect.

I hold onto railings as I climb – or descend – stairs. I usually have to lean against a wall or something to make sure I really don't tip over when putting on my socks or stepping into my shorts. I occasionally bump into doorways for no apparent reason. Even something as second nature as walking now requires more of my attention to make sure I'm not zigging and zagging down the sidewalk. (Just in case you're thinking that I need to cut back on the sauce, well, I already have. There's a point where you realize that the aging process is already screwing with your head, why compound it with alcohol? It was either that or have a serious talk with my inner ear crystals).

So I signed up for the class. It was only 15 bucks for 10 consecutive hour-long sessions (or $1.50 per session. Senior prices.) every Thursday from now until October. There's not many deals like that in this economy, so what the heck?

(Click on chart to enlarge)

 I didn't know what to expect going in. Was it going to be exercises? Were there going to be discussions about aging? About balance? Did I need to take notes? Kim and a few of my friends wanted me to show them what I was learning. It was like being back in school. The pressure was on.

Right from the start, it was about exercises. We started off by marching in place for a few minutes. Then there were some foot-to-foot weight-shifting drills, followed by some heel-and-toe rocking and hula-hoop maneuvers without the hula hoops. Pretty easy, huh?

Then came the fun stuff. 

"Okay, now I want you to stand on one leg," said the instructor. "Lift the other leg and extend it forward, and hold it for 20 seconds. You can grab onto your chair if you need to."

There were a couple of variations on this exercise, each one requiring that you raise one leg, extend and hold, before switching to the other leg. I didn't use a chair. But I couldn't go more than a few seconds of one-leggedness before I felt myself about to fall over. My ear crystals were laughing at me. Next week, I use a chair.

I later found out that some of these exercises incorporate the principles of Tai Chi, an ancient Chinese martial art designed to strengthen not only balance, but the inner core as well, while utilizing calm, relaxed breathing. That's not easy to do when you think you're falling over and you go into panic mode.

I reckon we did about 25 or so two-minute exercises within that hour. I started looking at the clock with about 20 minutes to go and wondered if this was ever gonna end. I even worked up a little sweat. Why did I think this was going to be easy? I'm 75 years old, for crying out loud. Three quarters of a century. I deserve easy.

Even the next day I had a few sore muscles.

The concept here is that you're supposed to take some of these exercises home with you and use them daily, but, me being me, that's not likely to happen. Too much like work. I did show Kim a few of the drills to give her an idea of what I'm doing. Plus, all you have to do is Google "balance exercises" and all this stuff comes up on YouTube anyway.

Nevertheless, I will continue to take this course. There are 14 of us, including two men, and I wonder how many of us will still be interested by October? So there's a challenge in that.

And I do see the benefits: in stress relief, in joint mobility and in heart health. For a person of my mature years, it's probably a good thing. On balance. 

 

 

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Fauci

Six years later – six years after the initial onslaught of the Covid pandemic – I never thought we'd still be talking about Dr. Anthony Fauci.

And if we were still talking about him, surely it would be about the millions of lives he helped save promoting the mRNA Covid vaccine while serving as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) (1984 to 2022) and as Chief Medical Advisor to the President (2021 to 2022).

Nope. Instead, we were presented with a sham Senate hearing, headed up by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, designed to try, prosecute and condemn Fauci, 85, for the role Fauci played during the pandemic. You know, where he advised convicted felon president Trump to do the right thing. Trump appreciated Fauci's advice so much that he awarded the physician the Presidential Commendation medal for his role in Operation Warp Speed.

But Dr. Trump often contradicted Fauci's advice. I guess Dr. Trump's medical training got in the way. (I might need to note for some of you when I'm being sarcastic. I'm being sarcastic).

I'm not quite sure what happened next. Paul, a nonpracticing opthalmologist by training and who happens to be the chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, has been on a six-year rampage in an effort to at least embarrass, if not imprison Fauci. That's why Fauci was in Paul's Senate hearing Wednesday, knowing full well that he was appearing before a Republican-constructed perjury trap. It's also why Fauci pled his constitutionally guaranteed Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.

You know, the way Trump did 440 times in a four-hour deposition in 2020.

Paul has been trying for years to question and prosecute Fauci over the origins of Covid and gain of function research. In other words, trying to pin the pandemic on Fauci. It's a Republican conspiracy theory that won't go away. As somebody recently wrote, there's no theory like a conspiracy theory.

Fauci is being blamed for mask mandates, vaccination requirements, small business failures, closure of schools, random social distancing, the deaths of millions of people through rushed vaccine research and anything else that annoyed people (Republicans) during the pandemic 

It's interesting to note here – and perhaps important, too – that Fauci served only as an advisor to the president, not as someone with authority to actually put those measures into effect. Those decisions were left to state governors and others on up to the convicted felon president himself.

So Wednesday's hearing was about, what? Giving advice? Show time?

What was the end result of the vaccine?

Well, no. The vaccine doesn't prevent Covid. Nothing will. Not horse wormer ivermectine. Not malaria medicine hydroxychoroquin. But the vaccine, in the face of an ever mutating virus, helped diminish the lethality of the disease. Death rates dropped. A kind of herd immunity developed. Even if you proudly proclaimed that you never took the vaccine, you're still here. Lives were saved, not taken. That's the empirical evidence.

Here are some things to think about. There are about eight billion people on the planet. A little more than five billion people took at least one jab, and more than 13 billion shots were administered. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 67 percent of the Earth's total population was vaxxed.

In the United States, with a population of 349 million, at least 676.7 million doses were given with 230.6 million people becoming fully vaccinated. That's 77 percent of the population. That's herd immunity.

I've heard the arguments: Fauci created the virus; Fauci did it for the money; Fauci did it for the glory; Big Pharma did it to keep people sick; Democrats did it to create votes; the vaccine killed millions.

I'm pretty sure Fauci, a dedicated scientist who earlier in his career helped in treating the HIV AIDS epidemic and spent more than 40 years in service to the country, suddenly went rogue and decided it was more profitable to become another Dr. Josef Mengele. That makes no sense.

Paul said he will consider filing contempt of congress charges against Fauci this week for pleading the Fifth while enjoying a preemptive pardon from President Biden. Paul said the pardon prevents Fauci from invoking the Fifth, which is a novel legal theory that is still to be litigated.

We're hearing a lot of complaining about witch hunts from the Trump administration these days. I guess we're seeing what one really looks like. 

Oh, yeah. And release the completely unredacted Epstein files. It's the law.