New Delhi, Apr 17: While the Trump Administration is repeatedly claiming victory in the war against Iran, family members of US military personnel deployed in the Middle East are worried that their loved ones are going hungry and their morale is running low.
Supplies “are going to get really low,” and the crew doesn’t anticipate any port visits until the ship returns from its mission, according to messages sent by a US Marine aboard USS Tripoli to the family on March 11.
“Morale is going to be at an all-time low,” wrote the American soldier aboard a warship deployed to fight the Iran war.
The messages were accompanied by a photo of a meal served on the ship — a two-thirds empty lunch tray which had one small scoop of shredded meat and a single folded tortilla, according to American publication USA Today.
Another photo of a mid-April dinner on the American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, shared by a service member with his family, was similarly unappetizing – a small handful of boiled carrots, a dry meat patty and a gray slab of processed meat, a report in the publication said.
The report quoted messages sent by some US soldiers deployed in the Middle East to their parents. These sporadic messages were sent when the USS Tripoli reached a pocket of internet service.
These messages said that the US soldiers were rationing their food supplies on the ship. Fresh produce was nowhere to be found. Even the coffee machine on board had broken down.
Hygiene products too are running low on the ship.
The USS Tripoli has been at sea for more than a month since it left its home port in Japan to join the Iran war. The 3,500 sailors and Marines aboard the Tripoli and its two accompanying warships are now tasked with enforcing the U.S. blockade of ships leaving Iranian ports, according to the U.S. Central Command.
Other warships have been at sea far longer.
The concerned family sent a care package with shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, toothpaste and tampons, filling every open space with candy and snacks.
But mail delivery to military ZIP codes across the Middle East has been indefinitely suspended as of April, and packages in transit now hang in limbo, according to the report.
The Postal Service and the Military Postal Service Agency have suspended deliveries as of the beginning of April “due to airspace closures and other logistical impacts from the ongoing conflict,” Maj. Travis Shaw, an Army spokesperson, told USA TODAY.
Mail already in transit when the suspension took effect is being held in secure Postal Service or military facilities “for future delivery once service resumes,” he said.
The suspension is “in effect until further notice,” Shaw added.
“Resumption of mail service is contingent upon the reopening of airspace by civil authorities, and the area commander’s evaluation of regional transportation and distribution stability.”
