Former West Virginia State Senator and retired United States Army Major Richard Ojeda delivered a scathing rebuke of the Trump administration’s treatment of American troops on Sunday, declaring that no commander in chief he served under during his 24-year military career has ever shown this level of indifference toward service members. The statement, posted to X, arrived amid escalating scrutiny of conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose nine-month deployment in the Middle East has drawn condemnation from military families, lawmakers and now Ojeda himself.
The Full Post
Ojeda published his statement on X at 8:43 p.m. on August 15, 2026. In full, he wrote:
“I served 24 years in the United States military. No commander in chief I have ever served under, democrat or republican, has ever had this level of indifference for our troops. NONE. It’s a damn disgrace. These people are spitting in the faces of our service members everyday.”
“Not Once” — Ojeda Invokes His Own Combat Record
In a follow-up comment attached to the post, Ojeda drew directly on his own deployment history to underscore his point. “I did 3 combat deployments in the Middle East. I spent most of my time serving outside the wire in remote areas where it was difficult to access us. Not ONCE did I ever allow my troops to go hungry or be ill-equipped. They don’t give a damn about our troops. That’s a fact,” he wrote.
The USS Abraham Lincoln at the Center of the Storm
Ojeda’s remarks come as the USS Abraham Lincoln remains at sea after nearly nine months of deployment tied to U.S. military operations against Iran. Families of sailors aboard the ship have gone public with accounts of a lack of supplies and food and a deteriorating mental health situation, including reports that multiple sailors have attempted to jump overboard. A U.S. defense official told NPR that the USS George Washington is en route to relieve the Lincoln, which has been at sea for nearly nine months.
Trump Dismisses the Concerns
President Trump addressed the situation directly on Friday, August 14, while speaking with reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews. Asked whether the ship’s deployment had gone on too long, Trump replied, “No, no, no, not nearly long enough.” When a reporter told him that families of service members were concerned about conditions aboard the ship, Trump responded, “No, they’re not.”
Trump also confirmed that the George Washington was already moving to relieve the Lincoln, telling reporters, “That ship is moving right now, or very shortly, and it’s being replaced with another very similar ship.”
Hegseth Calls the Reports “Completely Misrepresented”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking to reporters during a visit to Panama, pushed back on the reporting a day before Trump’s remarks. “Completely misrepresented,” Hegseth said. “We make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment. Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody. What they do in those high seas and those austere conditions with less port calls, it’s incredible.”
Congressional Democrats Demand Answers
The controversy has already drawn a formal response from Capitol Hill. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut wrote to Hegseth and the acting Navy secretary raising concerns about conditions aboard the Lincoln, stating in part that “there have been widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns, and disruptions in the mail system, which have caused many care packages en route to the ship to be lost in transit for months.” Blumenthal asked military leadership to explain the carrier’s rotation schedule and how the Pentagon is assessing the crew’s mental health and readiness.
Navy officials have denied any increase in suicide attempts aboard the vessel, even as other Democratic lawmakers have pressed for a bipartisan congressional visit to inspect conditions firsthand.
A Former Navy Pilot’s Perspective
Julie Roland, a former Navy helicopter pilot, told NPR that sailors returning from extended deployments like the Lincoln’s need to be given care and support as they transition home. “I don’t think anybody wants to be stuck in their office for 200 days without being able to see their friends or family no matter how good your job is,” Roland said. “Some people do really struggle with the mental health of just transitioning from life on board to coming back home.”
Ojeda’s Broader Accusation
In a second comment attached to his post, Ojeda widened his criticism beyond the Lincoln itself, accusing Trump and his allies of using troops as political props while failing to meet their basic needs. “They will wrap themselves in the flag, call themselves patriots, and use our troops for photo ops. But when duty calls, and it’s time to take care of our troops, they are too busy building golden statues of a draft dodging coward while our troops are going hungry. SICKENING,” he wrote.
Who Is Richard Ojeda
Ojeda is a retired U.S. Army major who served three combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, including as an operations officer in the 82nd Airborne Division during relief efforts in Haiti. He later served in the West Virginia State Senate from 2017 to 2019 and briefly launched a campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination before withdrawing in January 2019. Ojeda has continued to speak out on military and veterans’ issues in the years since leaving state office.
The Timeline Moving Forward
According to U.S. defense officials, it could take several weeks for the Lincoln’s replacement by the George Washington to be fully complete, with the Lincoln itself expected to take at least two weeks to return to its home base in San Diego. The George Washington, homeported in Japan, had already begun heading toward the Middle East as part of what military officials described to the Wall Street Journal as a “previously scheduled rotation plan.”
Reaction Continues to Build
Ojeda’s post has added a prominent veteran’s voice to a controversy that has already drawn criticism from multiple sitting senators and military family members. As of Sunday evening, neither the White House nor the Department of Defense had issued a direct response to Ojeda’s specific remarks, though both Trump and Hegseth have separately addressed the underlying conditions aboard the Lincoln in the days prior.