Jack Posobiec reported live on Wednesday’s edition of Human Events Daily from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, where soldiers who have been at sea for 320 days are returning home. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth addressed the troops, thanking them for their work on the mission in the Middle East.
Hegseth said the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group had achieved “historic” accomplishments, doing what “no other carrier strike group has ever done. 10,000 sorties, 23,000 combat flight hours, almost 4,000 combat sorties. 1.5 million pounds of ordnance dropped on the enemy. And let me tell you, and you did it without an aircraft mishap. I honestly have no idea how that’s possible.”
He said that the group did “60 hours of constant combat flight ops,” but was corrected, and did push-ups for the troops, which cheered. “160 straight hours with 60 strike hours, I stand corrected,” he said.
“You guys were central to an arrangement we made with the Iranian navy before this conflict. We decided to share the ocean with the Iranian navy. They got the bottom half. You sunk 59 of them, 59 vessels of the Iranian navy. They had a modern navy before this conflict started, and then they had to deal with the USS Abraham Lincoln.”
Hegseth noted how the group enforced “not just once but twice an impenetrable steel wall,” doing a Trump impression. “The president wanted me to personally thank you, each and every one of you, from the Oval Office, for what you have done here, for what you did in Epic Fury, ensuring Iran never gets a nuclear weapon, a historic mission that you were a part of, that you will ensure, and then the follow-on blockade, which has been impenetrable since day one.”
“I'll say this about this incredible crowd. I thank all my God for such Americans, for such men, and for such women, who put their life on the line, 265 continuous days without a port call, two times extended when you thought you were going home, and we asked you to do more, and you know what you did? You did more, and it wasn’t easy.”
He said there were “a few folks in the media who tried to turn the USS Abraham Lincoln into some sort of a symbol of dysfunction, or a symbol of low morale, or a symbol of a failed mission. When I look out right here, and when I talk to your leadership, and I have had a chance to talk to a number of you, I know it’s the exact opposite.”
“What makes the US military and the US Navy and all these sailors different is that you adapt, and that you're resilient, and you overcome, you finish the mission nonetheless. Yes, it's hard. That's why you're here. You do difficult and hard things, but you believe in your heart in that mission, and the men and the women to the right and the left of you who execute it alongside you. I mean, my heart only swells with pride just standing in front of you all.”
He later added, “You have changed the arc of history, ensuring that crazy people, theocrats, never get a nuclear weapon, changes the arc of history. There's only one president, one commander in chief, one military capable and willing to undertake that kind of mission. Given the threat that Iran posed, so many conventional weapons, such a large arsenal. When for 50 years you've been building a terror state and digging underground and trying to accumulate enough missiles so that no one can attack you. That means you're a real threat.”
“And we called the USS Abraham Lincoln, and you responded from minute one, constant combat operations, which Iran never expected. The kind of fire and fury that you were able to bring off this flight deck, along with other incredible Americans, just the intricacy.” He added, “The only reaction the American people and the American media should have is pride.”
Hegseth presented the crew with the Presidential Unit Citation for "extraordinary heroism against enemy forces."
