Sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier USS George Washington are dying at an alarming rate but nobody is talking about how or why. A third crew member was discovered dead in less than a week. All the Navy can say is they’re looking into it.
Three dead sailors
According to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service on Monday, April 18, a “sailor was found unresponsive on board the carrier last Friday.” They’re already working with local authorities to investigate the deaths of two other sailors discovered “at off base locations on April 9 and 10.”
They don’t seem to think they’re related, though officials admit it’s too soon to say for sure.
“While these incidents remain under investigation, there is no initial indication to suggest there is a correlation between these tragic events,” Navy spokeswoman Cmdr. Reann Mommsen, relates.
No correlation other than the sailors were all shipmates and the first two have Russian sounding first names. So far, the Navy did not “provide a cause of death for any of the three.” What they did provide is “a Special Psychiatric Rapid Intervention Team.”
These teams, Mommsen notes, “are intended to provide short-term mental health support after a traumatic event, such as a loss of life.” Audie Murphy would take one look at today’s average service members and start slapping them silly for being such pansies, compared to his day. Back then, masculinity wasn’t toxic.
The first of the sailors, found deceased on April 9, has been identified as Retail Services Specialist 3rd Class Mikail Sharp. Interior Communications Electrician 3rd Class Natasha Huffman was found dead the next day. The third has not yet been identified.
Unresponsive on board
While the Navy isn’t saying a whole lot about this latest incident, we do know that the latest sailor was “found unresponsive on board the ship on Friday and died.” Nobody is speculating as to a cause. “Our thoughts and condolences are with the family, friends, and shipmates of our sailors,” Mommsen consoles.
Currently, the nuclear powered USS George Washington is currently anchored in Newport News, Virginia. It’s expected to stay there for a while as it goes through “refueling and complex overhaul.” By refueling, they mean a “process to replace the ship’s nuclear fuel.” While they’re at it they decided to give her a tune up and “refit the ship for future operations.”
Local news outlets learned that the most recent of the sailors was “treated by the Washington’s medical team on board before being transported to Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, where the sailor died.”
The department won’t release the name until next of kin have been notified.
All that can be done at this stage is provide chaplains, psychologists and counselors to provide appropriate support and counseling to those grieving the unexpected loss of their fellow sailors.
Meanwhile, work to overhaul the reactor is way behind schedule. It was supposed to be finished in December but the Navy says Covid snarled everything up. All those anti-vaxers didn’t help any.
