Families of US sailors denounce Trump and Hegseth for ‘dismissing their experiences and calling them liars’

One US sailor’s mother asks: ‘My son signed up to serve his country. But why isn’t his country serving him?’ Naval families with loved ones deployed for months on US warships amid the Iran war have reacted with fury to Donald Trump and the defense secretary Pete Hegseth’s dismissal of their concerns about the extreme pressures and dire conditions they are enduring. The Guardian has talked to three naval families who have been following the physical and mental stresses bearing down on their relatives with mounting alarm. The families, with loved ones onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Tripoli, all spoke anonymously for fear of retribution against their active-duty relatives. They spoke of insufficient nourishment that has led to close relatives losing 20-30lb in weight since they were sent to the Middle East five months ago, leaving one sailor “emaciated”, according to his mother. They spoke also of low-quality drinking water and scarce mental health counseling and support despite the intense burden of being at sea for months on end without making land. The USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier with more than 5,000 sailors and marines onboard, has been at sea f