John, twenty-five years ago today, I was a junior officer in the United States Navy.

I stood watch plenty of times in twenty years — in the Middle East, the Western Pacific, and the Strait of Hormuz.

Sailors stand watch for people they will never meet, in a town they’ve never visited, on a night nobody will remember. They do it on the assumption that somebody, somewhere, is looking out for them too.

Right now, I'm not sure we're holding up our end.

• The USS Gerald R. Ford deployed for eleven months, the longest carrier deployment since Vietnam.
• The USS Abraham Lincoln was at sea for roughly nine months and went over 200 days without pulling into port.
• The USS George Washington has been pulled out of the Western Pacific to relieve the Lincoln. That’s supposed to be our naval deterrent against China and North Korea.

Hampton Roads has the largest concentration of Navy families in America. This is more than just a status report. It’s an empty seat at a kitchen table in Virginia Beach. It’s a spouse doing the work of two people since winter. It’s a kid in Norfolk who’s seen their parent on screen rather than in person for most of the year.

Those families are standing a watch of their own, and we’re all paying a price for this sloppy, poorly-planned war.

I’ve been a Sailor, I served on the House Armed Services Committee, and I’m still fighting for our Sailors in every way I can. They defend us, so defending them is a moral obligation.

That means someone in Congress actually reading the readiness reports. Asking why our troops are being deployed and when our troops are coming home. Making sure the pay and the housing and the healthcare and the childcare hold while they're gone. Asking the hard questions.

So I’m reporting for duty. Sailors don't get to opt out of the hard part. Neither will I.

To anyone reading this who is deployed right now, or waiting on someone who is, I see you. Thank you.

With you,
Elaine Luria