Mission: Greenland - Explaining The Submarine/Hospital Ship Fiasco

Little Did I Know the Stupidest Part of my Trip to Nuuk was waiting in America

Photo: USS Delaware in Nuuk Fjord, 21 February 2026, about to evacuate an ill sailor.

While in the Navy, I conducted submarine-based intelligence-collection missions for almost 2 years. I'm not going to say much about it due to the ultra-secret nature of those missions, which continue to this day. However, in light of the news that a US Navy Atlantic fleet sailor assigned to the USS Delaware, a Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarine, had suffered an illness that would have risked his life, I want to discuss the entire matter as it may not be clear to everyone—least of all Donald Trump.

The sailor was evacuated by the Danish Navy to the Queen Ingrid hospital in the capital of Nuuk by a Danish Navy SH-60 Seahawk helicopter at the request of the captain and with permission from the Pentagon and NATO. It's only in the light of the threats against Greenland that many people are surprised that such an undertaking would occur. But let me tell you, it happens with great regularity. The United States has been cooperating with our NATO allies since the organization was founded in 1949. One of the characteristics of working with our partner nations is that we help them when they need help.

When working in a submarine, it's like living in a big mechanical city in very tight quarters. On board is a Navy Hospital Corpsman, a medic at the Chief Petty Officer rank or higher who has received advanced training equal to a nurse practitioner or a physician’s assistant. There aren't enough doctors to assign to the 100 submarines we have in service. That person can treat almost anything, short of surgery. However, there are circumstances in the life of the sailor that the mission be suspended, and that the submarine make for the nearest port with advanced medical support.

If the submarine is not in a location where it can be attacked or a national security mission compromised, almost any major port with an airport and a hospital will do.

On one of my submarine missions, a machinist mate, working in the section of the ship that generated power, fell down a ladder and severely injured himself. The captain, his executive officer, the Chief of the Boat, and the Corpsman conferred and decided to medically evacuate him. The mission we were on was sensitive, but not enough to risk further injury to that sailor. As the chief of my mission, the captain asked me whether we would lose anything important by abandoning our task. I said, "Of course not.” Nothing is as important as saving the sailor … and it was a chance to get some fresh air!

The captain Navigator immediately drew a long, straight line on a navigation chart, heading directly to a city near a NATO base. As soon as we were within 50 miles, we surfaced. A helicopter was waiting. They winched the sailor up in a basket and took him to safety. We went back to whatever we were doing.

This is how NATO does it.

The USS Delaware was most likely transiting through the Davis Strait, headed south to the Labrador Sea after conducting the routine annual ICE-X, a submerged passage under the North Pole. At some point, a medical event occurred, and the Corpsman determined that he or she could not guarantee they could save the life of this sailor. So the CO ordered the crew to make for Nuuk, Greenland, where Arctic Command would treat and evacuate him.

Let me make one thing very clear. The submarine was not on a “spy” mission that involved going into Greenland’s waters. That’s ridiculous. It was just the closest spot where that long pencil line drawn on the navigation chart ended that had medical assistance. That’s it. That’s all that happened.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I met with the Commander of Arctic Command, and you have never met anyone more dedicated to helping all of our NATO allies fulfill the mission of security in the North Atlantic. For Danish soldiers, sailors, and airmen assigned there, this medical evacuation would've been a pleasure and an honor. They bear no animosity towards us.

We owe them a debt of gratitude for helping to save the life of our sailor.

As we say in the military when there is a caveat … “However, comma” the simple task of Greenland being involved in the evacuation of our sailor was too much for Donald Trump.

Trump’s Viking-level Bullshit Saga

Just two weeks ago, I was visiting Nuuk’s Queen Ingrid Hospital. I took a serious fall on ice and had very bad whiplash in my neck. I’m still sore from it. It wasn't bad enough to see a doctor, but I definitely needed ibuprofen. According to the map, the only pharmacy was in the hospital. Little did I know that was the hospital’s pharmacy. The nice Danish nurse there informed me that if I saw a doctor, they would dispense whatever I needed. But I didn't know at the time that the grocery stores kept ibuprofen behind the counter and hidden near the alcohol and cigarettes. That's why my trips to the supermarket couldn't find any. You have to ask for it, but Greenlanders don't need to because all the medications and medical treatment they need are free. Sure, they are covered by their taxes, but no one has asked them to pay for anything related to their health in Greenland. It was a breath of fresh air.

But that simple act of kindness by Denmark, fulfilling its NATO obligations, infuriated President Trump. Somehow, he believed a whole-cloth myth in his head that Greenland had no medical care. He announced that he had a conversation with his unelected "Greenland envoy," Jeff Landry, the former governor of what could arguably be called the hottest, most tropical state in America, Louisiana.

He came up with the genius idea to send a US Navy Hospital ship, the USNS Mercy, to Greenland to provide medical care, which he assumed they didn't have. I have visited the Mercy when she was underway in the Persian Gulf. This ship is massive. It's designed to take mass casualties in a land warfare environment on the scale of the US Marine Corps landings in the Pacific during World War II. Each of the two ships that we have has up to 12 surgical suites, 80 ICU beds, and 1,000 beds for other injuries. It operates with a medical team of over 1,000 personnel, not including the US merchant mariners who operate the ship. It also has a CAT scan, MRI, blood banks, laboratories, pharmacy, and a massive dining facility.

All of the things that Nuuk’s Queen Ingrid Hospital has.

What is going on here is simple. Having been delayed from taking Greenland by military force, he believes that by sending a hospital ship, he is providing services to the "locals" that they don't have. Of course, he doesn't want to hear that they have these things because whatever Donald Trump sends is always better. So the fantasy in his head goes.

The USS Mercy is literally in dry dock right now, going through a one-year maintenance refit. Trump doesn't wanna hear that he has ordered the Secretary of the Navy to get the ship ready to deploy to the North Atlantic.

Photo: USNS Comfort (left) and Mercy (Right) are in the same overhauled facility. This photo is recent.

Never mind that it would take months to get it rebuilt, and then thousands of personnel would have to be pulled off from their regular missions to sail up to an iceberg-filled region on a ship not rated to handle icebergs. Then they will turn right around to go home, as Greenland has something to say about it.

This is a sign of Trump’s mental illness acting as policy.

Greenland and Denmark have rejected the proposal out of hand. I have spent a bunch of time on the docks in Nuuk, meeting and chatting with the local line handlers and ship’s chandlers. They love cruise ship visits, but this one they would most likely strike and refuse to allow the ship to dock. A vessel as massive as the Mercy would require a professional Harbor pilot to bring it in as well. I'm almost certain that won't happen. The most that will happen here is that Trump will waste $1 billion for a ship that will go nowhere. Then he will send it to Venezuela and claim this was his idea all along.

What a fucking idiot.

Photo: Denmark has offered to send two hospital ships to America to help with the Trump Cult Syndrome. (X.com)