WaPo: USS Abraham Lincoln's Stop in Thailand Was Pervaded With a Sense of Anticlimax

Back in August, Natalie Oliverio reported to The Military Times that sailors were jumping overboard from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which had been deployed since November. Her sources included a conversation with a wife whose husband had allegedly tried to commit suicide and another sailor who said they'd talked down another sailor. CNN's Erin Burnett picked up on the story, which was soon all over the media. Conditions were so horrible on the Abraham Lincoln that it was a floating mental health crisis.

Good news. Earlier this week, the 5,000 sailors aboard the aircraft carrier enjoyed shore leave in Pattaya, Thailand.

BREAKING: USS Abraham Lincoln arrives in Pattaya, Thailand after 286 days at sea, giving roughly 5,000 U.S. seamen their first port stop in over 9 months. pic.twitter.com/Z0s3ibWcTx
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) September 2, 2026

There's going to be so much unspoken debauchery in Thailand that they're going to have to rename the USS Lincoln to the USS Lincoln Project. https://t.co/QHTKm0ow4n
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 3, 2026

Maybe not. The always-reliable Washington Post reports that "on the streets, a sense of anticlimax pervaded."

Sailors from the USS Abraham Lincoln came ashore near the Thai beach town of Pattaya this week, amid reports of poor conditions and low morale.

Locals had expected an infusion into the local economy. But on the streets, a sense of anticlimax pervaded. https://t.co/WNt4Lsgkir
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 5, 2026

Man the WAPO is just pure negativity these days. every story is spun negative.
— dick whitman (@skidrivebike) September 5, 2026

Andrew Nachemson reports for The Washington Post:

Even in a country known for open, though technically illegal, sex work, Pattaya still manages to stand out — owing in part to a history interlinked with that of the U.S. military in Southeast Asia. The foreigner-facing sex industry began to flourish in the 1960s as the previously quiet beachside town was chosen as a recreation stop for U.S. soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War. When the soldiers left, the infrastructure remained. Experts and advocates estimate there are tens of thousands of sex workers in Pattaya today.
…
The influx of sailors was visible, including at go-go bars, essentially strip clubs that verge into brothels. But it was not enough to fill the seemingly endless number of such establishments in Pattaya, despite efforts by some to entice customers with U.S. flags or offers of a 20 percent discount for service members.
Some proprietors said they were waiting for a cavalry that didn’t quite arrive. The owner of one go-go bar said her establishment, in the middle of a popular nightlife area, received no apparent customers from the Abraham Lincoln on the first night of shore leave.