An open letter to Idaho voters, from veterans who have served
By Veterans for Idaho Voters
Fellow Idahoans,
We write as veterans who know what it means to wear this country's uniform. We are asking you to pay attention to what is happening aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, because it is a betrayal of every service member who has ever raised their right hand.
For nine months, sailors and Marines aboard the Lincoln have been kept at sea, five of those months in active combat operations against Iran. Families have described moldy showers, broken toilets, food shortages and shortages of soap and toothpaste. One mother says her son lost more than 30 pounds in four months and once had to talk a fellow sailor out of suicide. When these conditions first surfaced in the spring, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth dismissed the reports as "fake news." Lawmakers are now demanding answers, and the Navy itself has acknowledged concerns about deteriorating conditions and the crew's mental health.
This is not an abstract policy failure. This is what happens to a ship, and to the people on it, when deployments are extended indefinitely without a plan to relieve them. Exhausted sailors make mistakes. Malnourished crews cannot operate a warship safely. And the invisible wounds, the anxiety, the despair, the strain on marriages and children waiting at home, do not heal when a ship finally pulls into port. They follow these men and women for the rest of their lives.
Supporting the troops cannot be a slogan. It has to mean full stomachs, working plumbing, mental health care and honesty from the people in charge. We call on President Trump and his cabinet to stop denying what families and sailors are describing in their own words, and we call on every member of Idaho's congressional delegation to demand a full accounting and set real limits on how long we ask our military to endure this.
We call out Sen. Jim Risch directly. As Idaho's senior senator and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he holds real influence over how this country conducts itself abroad, yet while colleagues from both parties, including members of the Senate Armed Services and Veterans' Affairs Committees, have publicly demanded answers from the Pentagon and pressed for congressional oversight visits to the Lincoln, Sen. Risch has been silent on the record about the sailors and Marines suffering through this deployment. Idaho has one of the highest per-capita veteran populations in the nation. Our state deserves a senator who leads on military readiness and troop welfare, not one who says nothing while our sailors go without adequate food, without working toilets and without hope. Sen. Risch, your constituents are asking: Where is your voice for these service members?
We also call out Sen. Mike Crapo as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Crapo just voted to accelerate and approve $2.61 billion for shipbuilding, yet he remains silent and complicit in sailors working without adequate provisions.
Idaho has always sent its sons and daughters to serve. They deserve better than this from their Commander in Chief, and they deserve better than silence from the men who represent them in the United States Senate.
With respect and resolve,
Veterans for Idaho Voters
