I commanded Task Group 56.7 in the Fifth Fleet — the unit responsible for maritime security and force protection across the Persian Gulf, including escort operations for the very logistics vessels now struggling to resupply our sailors. I know that theater. I know those waters.
I also served as Executive Officer aboard USS Anzio, a guided missile cruiser. I know exactly what a ship’s supply cycle looks like — when fresh food comes aboard, when it runs out, when the crew starts eating from the deep freeze, and what it does to morale when the replenishment ship is late.
In between those tours, I served as Executive Assistant to the Commander of Military Sealift Command — the organization that owns and operates every Combat Logistics Force ship responsible for fueling, feeding, and resupplying the U.S. Navy at sea. I sat in those briefings. I understand how that pipeline works when it’s healthy — and what breaks it when it isn’t.
So when Pete Hegseth called the families raising the alarm the “Pharisee Press,” I had some thoughts.
The food shortage story isn’t fake news. It’s a logistics problem — and the logistics problem has an address.
NSA Bahrain, the Navy’s primary supply hub in the Fifth Fleet AOR, was struck by Iranian missiles on February 28. Jebel Ali Port in Dubai — one of the busiest Navy resupply stops in the region — caught fire in two locations on March 1, including the military zone. Fujairah Port, the only major node outside the Strait of Hormuz, was hit by an Iranian drone on March 14. The USS Bush sailed around Africa to avoid the Houthi threat at the Bab al-Mandab. And the USS Gerald R. Ford has been at sea for 296 days with no port calls — a post-Vietnam record.
When every port your replenishment ships depend on is under attack or inaccessible, your sailors eat boiled carrots and a tortilla. That’s what happens when the supply chain breaks.
Those families of Sailors and Marines deserve answers — not a biblical insult from their own Secretary of Defense.
