The USS Ford shifts from Venezuela to Iran, potentially setting a record for continuous deployment amid mounting regional tensions.
By Kris Osborn, Warrior
The famous USS Ford “supercarrier” is now amidst a rapid, threat-driven, high intensity transition from the perils of maritime warfare off the coast of Venezuela to forward-positioning for an attack on Iran in the Middle East. This transition is now underway as the USS Ford now supports the U.S.-Israeli the Middle East with the expectation of arriving within striking distance of Iran within a week. A deployment of this length could be considered as a modern anomaly as deployments have not been expected to extend beyond six months in recent years. With this move to the Middle East from South America,
With deployment extensions already underway in support of the Venezuelan operation, the USS Ford has already been deployed more than 230 days without returning to its home port of Norfolk, Va. The Middle East deployment could result in the USS Ford being deployed for more than 300-days to a full-year, depending upon the timing of its eventual return. This deployment length rivals the Vietnam era when carriers were deployed for much longer periods of time than they typically are today. For instance, in 1964, the Midway-class USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) deployed for 329 days, just short of a record set by the USS Midway in 1972 for 332 days at sea.
The Perils of Extended Deployments
Beyond the clear self-evident reality of being separated from family, friends, loved ones and the many reassuring elements of a home environment, there is scientific evidence from National Institute of Health research which specifically analyzed the long-term impact of extended deployments upon mental health. The principle findings, as articulated in an essay from the National Library of Medicine called “Deployment of Personnel to Military Operations: Impact on Mental Health and Social Functioning.” were that indeed there is a substantial, evidenced-based finding of a clear correlation between extended military deployments and depression, anxiety, PTSD and other mental disorders. This was found to be particularly true when military members were assessed more than 24 months after an extended deployment, a finding which seems to suggest that mental, emotional and psychological effects of prolonged military operations can be long-lasting and intensify with the passage of time.
“Deployment to military operations negatively affects the mental health functioning of deployed military personnel. For assessments taken more than 24 months since exposure, we consistently found adverse effects of deployment on all mental health domains (PTSD, depression, substance abuse/dependence, and common mental disorders), particularly on PTSD. For assessments taken less than 24 months (or a variable number of months since exposure) the evidence was less consistent and in many instances inconclusive,” the NIH research paper states.
Psychological “Cost of War”
Citing the “psychological cost of war,” the NIH paper draws a parallel between long-term mental health problems and prolonged exposure to the perils of war such as “increased risk of physical harm and increased risk of adverse shocks to their mental health.
“Research suggests that the increased risk to mental health is mainly due to the hazards of war, combat exposure: firing weapons, road side bombs, seeing fellow soldiers, friends, civilians, and enemies being injured, maimed or killed. These experiences may lead to severe mental stress. The adverse impact on mental health is the psychological cost of war,” the paper states.
Facing Death
Clearly crew members of the USS Ford have endured and supported a maritime-warfare operation involving combat sorties over Venezuela in support of the targeted military mission to capture and abduct Maduro. Pilots of surveillance aircraft, helicopters and fighter jets confronted the risk of death while flying over Venezuelan air defenses, crew members on the ship supported and performed lethal operations such as firing weapons, loading up aircraft with bombs and guns, and confronting the realities of lethal precision-strikes in war. As articulated in the NIH research, this kind of prolonged “stress” can generate long-term mental health consequences. Now that the USS Ford is headed to the Middle East, it is entirely feasible that the ship may support a large-scale, prolonged air attack campaign against Iran …. Without resting or returning home. The crew will therefore need to transition quickly from maritime combat in South America to possible maritime warfare in the Middle East. This reality bears heavily upon the regularly considered question as to whether the U.S. Navy does, indeed, need a larger fleet of aircraft carriers. It would seem that the Combatant Commander demand for carriers throughout the world greatly exceeds available supply.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University