A week has passed since the USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. returned to its homeport at the end of September. The naval destroyer was deployed for a record of ten months.
Three months into a Pacific mission, it was diverted to the Arabian Sea with the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln when the Iran war broke out.
The carrier and its support destroyers were called back from the Middle East when concerns about the mental health of the sailors aboard arose after eight reported cases of attempted suicide.
Previously, The Conversation highlighted local efforts to help military veterans struggling with mental health issues, and now the well-being of the country’s active troops and their families has become an issue with members of Congress.
HPR was there at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam when the warship came home. It was a welcome sight for anxious families and friends of the around 300 sailors aboard.
To learn more about the ship's journey, HPR spoke with its commander, Capt. Casey Mahon.
Not only did the strike group get diverted from its original mission in the South China Sea, but it was sent directly into a combat zone.
He spoke about the impact the mission and its duration had on the ship’s service members, and what strategies they were given to cope.
“One of the things we did is really making sure people had a chance to express themselves. … So we had a meme wall on board the ship where people could put up memes to talk about how their feelings were,” Mahon told HPR.
“And you know, some of them, they're edgy memes. But that's the kind of thing you have to do. … And again, when you have those outlets, that's how we help get through it.”
According to Mahon, there were no reports of attempted suicide aboard the USS Frank E. Petersen Jr.
HPR also had the opportunity to hear from some of the families who had to deal with the stress of knowing their loved ones were being placed in a political hotspot.
Alysha Nishimura from Maui says while this time was hard, she recalled that her family has weathered previous difficulties before, like the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We've got a lot of help from friends and family on Maui, but it's nothing compared to Dad. You know, we just can't wait for him to get off the ship,” she said.
Others, like Navy spouse Taylor Tucker, described how they managed with the significant upheavals military life meant for them. Tucker moved across the continent from Virginia with her two young children and found support with the Navy’s Family Readiness Groups.
“So I was a part of the FRG. I first started off as the vice president, and then I became the president of the FRG … to help out not only myself but spouses and also the kids, because I feel like they get overlooked sometimes,” she told HPR.
With the return of the USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. and the USS Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. currently has no aircrafts carrier present in the Asia-Pacific region.
This story aired on The Conversation on Oct. 5, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
