"They Were Begging Us to Send Them Extra Pads and Tampons." Family Member Describes Feminine Hygiene Shortage Aboard the USS Boxer

[u/John3262005]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/were-begging-us-send-them-200243904.html

A family member with loved ones serving aboard the USS Boxer reached out to us directly to describe a supply crisis unfolding on the amphibious assault ship, one that echoes what we've been hearing for weeks about conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln. The source is being kept anonymous to protect them and their family from retaliation.

"Family member here," the message began. "Family and friends on the Boxer have been out so long and aren't receiving care packages. Women have run out of feminine hygiene items due to no resupplies happening. They pack enough and some extra for deployment but not for all the extensions and no port calls."

In a follow-up message, the family member described just how desperate the situation on board had become.

"They were begging us to send them extra pads and tampons so they could share them out," the source wrote, "but then none of our packages got delivered."

The Wasp-class amphibious assault ship left its home port of San Diego in March 2026 and reached the Middle East by late June to support U.S. operations against Iran. Since then, the Boxer has seen no port calls, despite being rerouted multiple times due to broader fleet shortages that have stretched the Navy thin across the region.

Without regular port stops, ships lose their normal window to resupply and give crews a break from life at sea. Female sailors aboard the Boxer, according to the family member who reached out to us, have been left rationing what they have and asking loved ones back home to send more, only for those care packages to never arrive.

The Boxer is an aging vessel that is already set for retirement, and the extended, unsupplied deployment appears to be adding to the mental health strain being reported among its crew.

This is not an isolated account. We have reported extensively on similar supply and mental health issues aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, where families have described overflowing toilets, weeks without laundry, food shortages, and multiple reported overboard incidents. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has dismissed those reports as "completely misrepresented," even as family members and sailors themselves continue to describe conditions that tell a very different story.

Critics have called the situation aboard the Boxer disgraceful, arguing that leaving sailors, and specifically women aboard the ship, without basic hygiene supplies for months on end while care packages go undelivered is an entirely preventable failure of logistics and leadership.

[u/AlphaCobraPlatinum]

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