thinking about that bbc piece again where they visited a US navy ship, and everyone interviewed moaned about missing their treats and being homesick...

US Navy aircraft carrier faces relentless battle against Houthi attacks (18 Mar 2024)

Unlike the Houthis, they're away from home with few creature comforts. Every meal on board is literally feeding the five thousand. The food bill on the carrier alone is $2m (£1.6m) a month.

Captain Chris Hill, the commanding officer of Ike, says "people need breaks, they need to go home".

But he says they don't yet have dates for when that'll happen. So one of his tasks is to maintain the crews morale and resilience.

He even has a dog on board to help. Demo, a facility dog who's been trained for life on the carrier, walks the mess decks to help lift the crew's spirits.

and...

Captain Hill says: "It's difficult to define winning and losing in this kind of conflict."

"Ideally, we want to stop every Houthi attack."

When I ask whether that's achievable, he replies that it's "hard to say".

[–] aaaaaaadjsf@hexbear.net 57 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

It's also a case of the sailors onboard the US Navy ships having to be successful everytime in their missile defence or intercept missions, while the Houthis only need to have one successful attack to sink a US Navy ship. It's unsustainable long term for the US Navy, one mistake and one of their ships is toast. The US has been forced to the negotiation table by the Houthis military actions.

[–] Meh@hexbear.net 57 points 7 months ago

anti-thatcher-action the old adage holds true

[–] rubpoll@hexbear.net 51 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Captain Hill says: "It's difficult to define winning and losing in this kind of conflict."

Definitely what military leaders say when they're winning. janet-wink

[–] VILenin@hexbear.net 8 points 7 months ago

Previously unknown Hitler quote from April 1945

[–] aqwxcvbnji@hexbear.net 41 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Unlike the Houthis, they're away from home with few creature comforts.

Those Houti´s really have all the comforts, unlike American soldiers

[–] VILenin@hexbear.net 9 points 7 months ago

The troops really are the most pampered babies on the planet

[–] glans@hexbear.net 39 points 7 months ago (1 children)

austerity is sharing 1 dog among 5k people

[–] carpoftruth@hexbear.net 31 points 7 months ago

communism is when you share the dog and stalin gets the head and everyone else gets the ass

[–] Hestia@hexbear.net 32 points 7 months ago

There's 5000 Americans sitting on their asses for each one of these ships, and their job is to wait to be sunk. Beautiful use of resources. I love capitalism.

[–] Commiejones@hexbear.net 30 points 7 months ago

he replies that it's "hard to say".

The word is "no" and its fucking easy to say but Captain hill is a fucking douchecanoe who is scared his boss will get mad at him for telling simple truths.

[–] marxisthayaca@hexbear.net 5 points 7 months ago

michael-laugh