# USS Abraham Lincoln **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 15, 2026, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359 "2026-08-15T21:31:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 29
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/562 "2026-09-02T22:12:46Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > ask if they could be discharged from Thailand, even if they have to fly home at their own expense? That is probably a no go. I don’t think the Navy would agree. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/563 "2026-09-02T22:17:58Z")
I was watching CNN earlier today where the mother of a crew member was interviewed as she flew to Thailand to join her child for the break. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/564 "2026-09-02T22:25:48Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I wonder if some members of the crew might ask if they could be discharged from Thailand, even if they have to fly home at their own expense? Why would they be discharged at all? They’re still in the Navy when the deployment ends. ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/565 "2026-09-02T22:42:22Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I wonder if some members of the crew might ask if they could be discharged from Thailand Absolutely not. The Navy will only out process sailors at the facility closest to their home of record if they are single. If they are married it’s closest to their spouse’s residence. I know this from personal experience because I tried to separate in Spain with a work visa and a job offer. They sent me home to mama, invalidating my work visa and losing me the job. ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/566 "2026-09-02T22:45:56Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Why would they be discharged at all? I’d imagine on a ship that large there are more than a few who were deployed beyond their EAOS. They might get flown home, but they won’t be separated overseas in a country with no US base. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/567 "2026-09-02T22:49:19Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I was watching CNN earlier today where the mother of a crew member was interviewed as she flew to Thailand to join her child for the break. I bet that crew member is super excited to have mom show up! /s ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/568 "2026-09-02T22:51:33Z")
Wow, a Tophatters tail fin. My brother-in-law was with VFA-14 as paint maintenance. He invited my wife and I on a Tiger Cruise aboard the USS John C. Stennis in 2016. I’m glad he’s not still with them for that shit show deployment. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/569 "2026-09-02T22:55:36Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > I was watching CNN earlier today where the mother of a crew member was interviewed as she flew to Thailand to join her child for the break. > > I bet that crew member is super excited to have mom show up! They might be okay with it. Not everyone wants to spend shore leave at bars and strip clubs. Some crew members are probably only eighteen or nineteen years old. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/570 "2026-09-02T23:05:01Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > They might be okay with it. Not everyone wants to spend shore leave at bars and strip clubs. > > Some crew members are probably only eighteen or nineteen years old. Well they were when they left 🙂 Seriously, I can totally see a homesick sailor being thrilled to see Mama. That’s exactly something my Mom would have done without my sayso and driven me batshit but I knew plenty of people when I was a college kid that age who would want that more than anything. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/571 "2026-09-03T00:41:50Z")
Kegbreath and his feculent boss should scrub that hull with their toothbrushes. 😡 ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/572 "2026-09-03T00:45:15Z")
They can scrub it as they’re being keelhauled. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/573 "2026-09-03T01:54:51Z")
> [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](#): > > Shipbuilding is a very dirty industry. It’s something an advanced country should _want_ to import. AIUI, the problem is when it comes to building warships, if a country doesn’t have any merchant shipbuilding then there isn’t any excess capacity to convert to building warships if there suddenly is a large need, or skilled workers who can hired. Countries will also merchant civilian ships that are special-built, dual purpose ships that be used by their navies in times of war. Japan did the before WWII and China is doing this now. If the US wants to have a large enough navy to help protect Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and other countries from China, then we need more ships. But, keeping friends and Allies would probably be more important. > [@What\_Exit](#): > > Even after long sea periods, violence is minimal typically. But sailors being sailors and after an extra long time at sea. Drinks will be drunk to an excess. When I was much younger and living in Tokyo, I often went to the bars and clubs in Roppongi where Westerners were common. We would see sailors or Marines sometimes, even though Tokyo is pretty far from Yokosuka. They didn’t typically drink at the same bars that my friends and I did because the ages of the women in the respective bars were usually different, but there were a few places that everyone would go to. Generally, they seemed like great kids, acting no differently than what my friends and I were doing back in college, e.g., drinking a lot and trying to meet women. The only time I ever saw anything close to a fight was when a gaijin who I knew from drinking there before was really drunk and trying to pick a fight with a bunch of Marines. (He was American, living in Tokyo, IIRC and we had drinks togethers sometimes but weren’t friends.) I was in a different part of the bar and one of the group came to find me to get my help to calm this guy down. They could easily taken him out to a back alley and beat the shit out of him, but instead when out of their way to find a better way to handle it. I developed a lot more respect for Marines from that encounter. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/574 "2026-09-03T02:17:37Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Not everyone wants to spend shore leave at bars and strip clubs. Not sure that was what I was getting at. But I’m sure it’s true for plenty of guys. > [@hajario](#): > > That’s exactly something my Mom would have done without my sayso and driven me batshit That’s what I was getting at. I wouldn’t have been dying to go to the strip clubs, but I also wouldn’t have been dying to have my mom show up for my few days of leave. There is a lot more to do on leave than hang out at bars and strip clubs. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/575 "2026-09-03T03:01:34Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Even after long sea periods, violence is minimal typically. But sailors being sailors and after an extra long time at sea. Drinks will be drunk to an excess. > [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Generally, they seemed like great kids, acting no differently than what my friends and I were doing back in college, e.g., drinking a lot and trying to meet women. I mean, I went to High School in Alameda in the early 1980’s when the NAS was in full swing. Young, very drunk, naive sailors with two weeks worth of cash in their pockets were not uncommon targets of night time muggings after paydays. I was slightly acquainted with one very, very tough older teenager that made a habit of rolling sailors that way. Not well enough acquainted to suggest to him that just perhaps that was antisocial behavior…not and keep all of my teeth. But I knew him just well enough to confirm that was indeed how he earned a little extra cash from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/576 "2026-09-03T03:21:41Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > But I knew him just well enough to confirm that was indeed how he earned a little extra cash from time to time. Yikes. The guy I knew seemed normal at first, but later I found out he liked getting into fights. WTF? I stopped hanging out with him after that as my threshold for pain was a lot less. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/577 "2026-09-03T03:43:57Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > **Sailors and Marines**. And likely a smattering of Airmen. Every time I deployed while I was in the Navy, the carrier had at least one USAF pilot. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I wonder if some members of the crew might ask if they could be discharged from Thailand, even if they have to fly home at their own expense? One cannot be discharged from the military except at a unit designated to discharge people from the military. Ships on deployment away from homeport do not qualify. > [@Thumper668](#): > > Absolutely not. The Navy will only out process sailors at the facility closest to their home of record if they are single. If they are married it’s closest to their spouse’s residence. I know this from personal experience because I tried to separate in Spain with a work visa and a job offer. There actually are procedures for discharging someone from the military in Spain. Your PSD or X3 was sorely lacking in procedural knowledge. The bit about “single closest to HOR” and “married closest to spouse” is not the actual procedure. One could, for example, be discharged in Monterey, California and then travel to their home of record in New York, NY and then be reimbursed for the authorized travel expense. When I was stationed in Germany, plenty of people were discharged there. Part of the package to be separated in Europe was proof of housing and proof of employment, IIRC. The same applied when I was stationed in Japan. > [@Thumper668](#): > > > [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > > > Why would they be discharged at all? > > I’d imagine on a ship that large there are more than a few who were deployed beyond their EAOS. They might get flown home, but they won’t be separated overseas in a country with no US base. There’s such thing as a sepration hold. That’s where the service member is kept on active duty beyond the expiration of their term. There are also extensions of enlistment contracts which i would not be surprised a fair number of those eligible to do taking advantage of for a number of reasons. One of those is the tax benefits of being deployed in combat. Another is the extra pay. The usual procedure for separating someone when they approach their end of term is to fly them back to homeport and separate them there unless they have requested and had approved separation at another facility, such as in Japan, Spain, Italy, or anywhere else where this can be accomplished adhering to local laws. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Some crew members are probably only eighteen or nineteen years old. This might be an issue also. Last I heard, no matter where, the US military’s regulations on drinking age is 21, even if the local law has a lower age. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/578 "2026-09-03T03:55:43Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Last I heard, no matter where, the US military’s regulations on drinking age is 21, even if the local law has a lower age. Maybe it is now, but that wasn’t the case 10 to 20 years ago. Although for a ship homeported in the IS, they might just stick to US drinking age for uniformity/sanity. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/579 "2026-09-03T03:55:43Z")
Out of curiosity, presumably, the easiest way to pay for anything in Thailand is cash. Does the aircraft carrier just have some ATM stocked full with US dollars cash, let sailors withdraw, then the sailors convert it into Thai money at shore? ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/580 "2026-09-03T03:56:54Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > presumably, the easiest way to pay for anything in Thailand is cash Is it? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359/581 "2026-09-03T04:01:02Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Out of curiosity, presumably, the easiest way to pay for anything in Thailand is cash. Does the aircraft carrier just have some ATM stocked full with US dollars cash, let sailors withdraw, then the sailors convert it into Thai money at shore? There is a disbursing department (read that as finance) on the ship. They manage the ATM or ATMs aboard. And every time we pulled into a foreign port, we could head to the hangar deck where we could convert dollars to local currency. Of course there were local outfits ashore equipped to convert money also. Another nifty choice is to use a global ATM at a bank ashore. Global ATMs are those set up to handle foreign cards. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359.md?page=28) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359.md?page=30)