Fox News host Joey Jones unleashed a blistering attack Saturday on a sailor who complained to CNN about food and morale aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, accusing the service member of acting “weak” and questioning what such complaints say about the military.
During a segment on “The Big Weekend Show,” Fox News aired footage of the unnamed sailor speaking with CNN’s Pamela Brown about conditions aboard the aircraft carrier. The interview was filmed July 10 and aired Thursday.
“I would say morale’s pretty low,” the sailor said, adding that the ship had been running low on rations.
The sailor said meals sometimes consisted of noodles mixed with tuna, while other times sailors received a corndog or hot dog.
Jones audibly sighed as the clip ended before launching into a fiery response based on his own military experience.
Jones recalled eating Ramen noodles for six months while serving in Afghanistan using a small burner, saying he was happy to have them because the alternatives were MREs or food prepared by an Afghan cook.
“How weak are you?!” Jones said. “On TV, complaining about tuna and noodles?”
Jones noted that the sailor had volunteered to serve his country before suggesting he could eventually leave the military and complain afterward.
“You can come back, get out of the military, and do like all these Democrat veterans and complain about it and make commercials and be a sellout if you want to,” Jones said.
Jones served eight years in the Marine Corps and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2010, he was severely wounded by an IED explosion in Afghanistan. He suffered significant injuries to his arms and wrists and had both legs amputated above the knee.
The discussion followed recent reports about conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln during its extended deployment amid the Iran war. Those reports have included complaints about rotten food and reports that multiple sailors attempted to go overboard.
Jones acknowledged that life aboard the carrier could become boring but said he had little sympathy for complaints about the food.
“To sit there and say that it was terrible because you had a corndog and a hot dog?” Jones said. “I would’ve traded a block of C-4 to the Taliban for a hot dog by about July 2010.”
Jones then broadened his criticism, questioning what it would mean if the sailor’s attitude represented a significant portion of today’s military.
“If this is who we are, we’re just Rome sitting here waiting to burn,” Jones said. “We’ve got nothing left. It makes me fume.”
Jones concluded by invoking the sacrifices of previous generations of American service members, saying he could only imagine what a World War II veteran would think after watching the sailor’s CNN interview.
For Jones, the complaints were not merely about noodles, tuna or hot dogs. They raised a larger question about the mentality of those serving — and whether the sailor featured by CNN represents anything close to the broader U.S. military.
