Mike Koolidge, filling in for Dan Proft on Chicago’s Morning Answer, spoke with Steve Bucci, a retired Army Special Forces officer with three decades of military service and a former top Pentagon official who is now a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, about reports of complaints from sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed near the Strait of Hormuz for an unusually long stretch of time.
Koolidge opened the segment by noting the extended time the carrier has spent away from port, and read a social media post from the father of a sailor aboard the ship pushing back on characterizations of the crew as suffering, stating that his son’s morale and resolve remained strong despite demanding conditions on the flight deck. Bucci said he agreed with that assessment, arguing that a small number of sailors, which he estimated at around six individuals out of a crew of several thousand, were behind complaints that reached the press and some members of Congress. He said conditions aboard the ship, even at their most difficult, remain far better than what troops in other branches often endure, noting sailors are not under direct fire and are not exposed to the elements in the way ground troops are.
Bucci said the situation had already been reviewed by the commander of U.S. Central Command, a Navy admiral, and characterized it as a non-issue that has been exaggerated. He said it is normal for service members to complain about conditions during deployment, but that taking those complaints to the media rather than through the chain of command, such as an inspector general, crosses a line and reflects poorly on military professionalism. He added that going to the press instead of following proper channels could amount to a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Asked about the broader media coverage of the story, Bucci said he believed many journalists and politicians raising the issue, including Senator Mark Kelly, were using it as an opportunity to generate attention rather than out of genuine concern for the sailors involved. He said the crew is still being fed and cared for even if meals have occasionally fallen short of the Navy’s usual standard, and noted that ships are regularly resupplied even when they are unable to make traditional port visits during wartime deployments.
The conversation also touched on recent comments from President Trump suggesting the United States now controls the Strait of Hormuz and had floated turning it into U.S. territory similar to the historical arrangement with the Panama Canal. Bucci said the United States maintains a strong presence in the strait through ships and aircraft, but stopped short of saying the U.S. has full control, noting Iran retains the ability to carry out targeted attacks that continue to make shipping companies and insurers nervous. He described the idea of claiming the strait as U.S. territory as Trumpian hyperbole, saying the waters are international and that such a move would be neither realistic nor something he believes the president is seriously pursuing.