Mental Health Is a Warfighting Readiness Problem for the U.S. Navy

“You cannot be at mental peace always. You will be worried. So even my family — they are scared all the time, and they were anxiously praying [for] the vessel [to] come out of this area safely.” While Captain Chirag operates a commercial cargo vessel in the Red Sea, his comments in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 attacks in the Middle East could just as easily be attributed to the hard-charging crew of the guided-missile destroyer USS Carney and other surface combatants fighting Houthi threats, or the experiences of the sailors assigned to Carrier Strike Group Three enga