Mental Health on Naval Ships

Were there some sailors who did try to commit suicide or jump

overboard? Hate to be so blunt, but

Um, so a-as I said, the, the key number that I like to focus on

is zero.

There were no suicides on board. There were no lost lives o-on board.

Um, the suicide attempt number, you know, the Secretary of the Navy put

out a number. That encompassed the entirety of the

strike group, um,

and then I can't remember exactly how many destroyers we peaked at, but-

Additional ships that were assigned.

Uh, uh, there were additional ships assigned other

than the ones Admiral listed, so

you're talking about a, at least a thousand more than what I'm--

what's behind

me. So that, I think that key point has been lost.

When he, the Se-Secretary of the Navy put out the

Abraham Lincoln carrier strike

group, that encompasses several thousand more

sailors than what's on

board behind me. Um, we want the suicide attempt number to

be zero. Having done this many, many times with the,

uh, demographics that I have on board and the, you know, the

stressful mission that we conduct, that's unrealistic.

That's why I go to sea with a very, very well-staffed mental health team.

And when we had acute mental health cases, they immediately get seen by that

mental health team and evaluated.

And I think that's the best way I can describe that.