Multiple suicides in the U.S. Navy have prompted legislative action.
U.S. Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) announced a bill on Friday that would support junior sailors while their ships are under maintenance.
“The Seaman Xavier Sandor Support for Sailors Act” is named after 19-year-old Xavier Sandor from Shelton, Connecticut.
Sandor died by suicide after enduring deplorable conditions while stationed on the USS George Washington during its refueling and complex overhaul in April 2022.
According to Blumenthal, who is a member of the Armed Services Committee, sailors experienced outages of electricity, heating, air conditioning, and hot water for weeks at a time, and had no access to mental health support.
“What happened here was a command failure,” Blumenthal said. “We're going to do legislation that will provide new rules, new resources, and new conditions for sailors when their ships are in for overhaul or refueling. But nothing can replace sufficient command responsibility.”
The legislation would allow sailors to live in commercial housing, instead of on the ships, while they are under construction. It would also increase the amount of mental health counselors available.
Blumenthal said officers on the USS George Washington knew how bad conditions were, but did not react appropriately.
“Xavier Sandor was leaving the base to come home, in effect, violating the rules,” Blumenthal said. “But the Navy let him do it because they knew how intolerable the conditions were.”
John Sandor and Mary Graft, Xavier’s parents, said he was a “smart, strong, disciplined, caring, happy, family oriented young man who wanted to serve his country.”
They want to make sure their son is remembered — and so other parents don’t have to feel their pain.
“We are here today because the Navy has failed him,” John Sandor said. “We are here today because this strong devoted serviceman was not given the chance he should have been. We are here today to make sure other servicemen and women are given the chance they deserve. We are here today to make sure Xavier's life was not in vain.”
Blumenthal said the U.S. Military will not receive a budget this year if the act does not pass. He expects his colleagues to support the legislation.
