Sailor Who Jumped From USS Lincoln: ‘I Wanted To Get Home’
A sailor who jumped from the USS Abraham Lincoln after being deployed for 255 days said he “wanted to get home.”
“I didn’t want to be there anymore,” 19-year-old Navy airman Nicholas McKelvey told The New York Times. “If I was going to die because of it, then that’s just how it is.”
McKelvey jumped 67 feet into the Arabian Sea and was rescued roughly an hour later. He later told a psychiatrist he jumped because “I wanted to get home.”
He wasn’t the only one experiencing a mental health crisis. Several other sailors also tried to go overboard during the 9-month deployment that saw a shortage of food and basic hygiene products.
The Navy charged McKelvey with malingering and jumping from a vessel. McKelvey was found guilty of the charges at a hearing last month.