‘Load off my shoulders’: US sailors chase ‘simple stuff’ in Thailand’s Pattaya after 286 days at sea

On Thursday morning, there was not a spare chair to be had at a nail salon in Pattaya. Sailors from the USS Abraham Lincoln, men and women alike, had come in for pedicures at the end of a punishing deployment, The Guardian reported.

A worker at the salon told the newspaper she was excited that the US military had picked Thailand as the carrier’s first port of call after 286 uninterrupted days at sea.

‘Some people adapt to it, but not everyone’

The ship had been in the news for months over reports of worsening living conditions and poor mental health on board, including attempted suicides — reports that fed criticism of US President Donald Trump’s war against Iran. The Lincoln’s captain has acknowledged a shortage of fresh fruit and vegetables but has said accounts of conditions on board were largely overstated.

A sailor on his first deployment compared life on board to being shut in a bedroom with your entire family, though he said the friendships he formed made it bearable. Food, he said, was harder to stomach: beef and sliced potato served undercooked. In his account, the drop in standards had less to do with the length of the deployment than with the battle conditions imposed during Operation Epic Fury. A second crew member agreed, saying restocking during that stretch would have exposed the ship to risk.

American service members from the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group arrive at a hotel in Pattaya, Thailand, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Another said the hardest part was simply holding his nerve. One said “a load came off my shoulders” when he stepped on to dry land, and said he had eaten his fill of Thai food the previous night. “Me and Thai food might be best friends after this,” he told the Guardian. A serviceman who did not give his name was even more blunt: some people adapt, he said, and some do not.

Pattaya Shops See A US Navy Boost

Pattaya is known for its red light district and its nightlife, but much of what the crew wanted was ordinary. One sailor, picked out at a Vans store in a mall, said he was after “the simple stuff like new socks”. Another had bought his wife a Hello Kitty soft toy. A third ordered two burgers at Burger King and was planning to have a suit tailored before exploring Thailand’s east coast.

Local businesses courted the visitors. A tailor advertised suits for the US Navy in 24 hours; a Thai restaurant offered 10 per cent off to anyone with a military ID. Familiar American names did well, with Nike, Victoria’s Secret and Starbucks all reporting a jump in sales. A worker at American Eagle told The Guardian the store usually clocks sales worth about 70,000 baht on an off-season day; on Wednesday, after the sailors arrived, it crossed 200,000 baht, and by Thursday lunchtime it had already passed 100,000 baht.

Tourists stroll down Walking Street in Pattaya, Thailand, on Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

The town needed the money. The war in West Asia has hurt tourism in Thailand, and the rainy season has slowed business further. Pattaya’s mayor, Poramet Ngampichet, estimated that if each American spent $100-$150 a day, the visit could bring in around 100 million baht (roughly $3 million).

Not everyone saw the benefit. A woman running a gift stall at a night market said she had sold a single fridge magnet to a sailor.

The crew was advised to stay away from the beer bars on Soi 6 after dark, one of the more notorious lanes of the red light district. Walking Street, the main strip, was not off limits: a large neon sign welcoming the carrier and its personnel went up at its entrance, and at least one club offered US service members a discount. A worker at a bar there said the ten crew members who came in on Wednesday night were good for business but seemed wary of the bar girls.

American service members of the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group arrive at a hotel in Pattaya, Thailand, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

The city’s association with the US military is old. A fishing village until the Vietnam war, Pattaya was transformed within 15 years of being designated an official rest-and-recreation destination for American soldiers, and historians credit that period with creating both the sex tourism industry and the modern city built around it. Most of the women working in that industry are not from Pattaya; they have migrated from Isan, Thailand’s poorest region, and from Laos and Myanmar.

USS Abraham Lincoln Sails Out After Thailand Stop

The Lincoln arrived early on Wednesday, escorted by other US naval vessels, in what Thai officials had said would be a five-day visit to the only US treaty ally in mainland Southeast Asia, Reuters reported. Busloads of sailors and Marines in civilian clothes began pulling up at a hotel in Pattaya, about 150 km southeast of Bangkok, soon after the ships docked at Laem Chabang port.

Naval deployments usually run six to nine months and can stretch longer in wartime. The Lincoln took part in the US naval blockade and in combat operations in the war with Iran, and Democratic lawmakers have said it set a modern-day record for consecutive days at sea.

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   What happened in Thailand

   What happened: USS Abraham Lincoln made a five-day Thailand port call.
   Why it matters: It followed 286 uninterrupted days at sea.
   Where: Pattaya, after docking at Laem Chabang port.
   Who was on board: About 5,000 US Navy personnel.