Bush CO says carrier's toilet system isn't as bad as described

The commanding officer of the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush is disputing that problems with the ship's toilet system are as serious as a handful of sailors have made them out to be. Still, he says the system needs to be upgraded to reduce outages.

The issue with the toilets - "heads" in Navy-speak - was first made public by a blogger, Mary Brotherton, who is the mother of a Bush sailor. On Tuesday, The Virginian-Pilot and the Navy Times each ran stories on the subject.

Brotherton's son, Petty Officer 1st Class Richard Frakes, told The Pilot that he has searched the ship for nearly an hour on some occasions to find a working toilet and that he has at times limited his food and water intake so he would need to use the bathroom less often.

At least a handful of other crew members have echoed Frakes' complaints. The Navy Times quoted sailors describing instances in which the carrier had no working heads. Some on board told the paper they've resorted to urinating in showers, sinks and bottles, while others reported developing urinary-tract infections after resisting urges to use the bathroom.

When asked about the issue Monday, the Navy said that problems have occurred repeatedly since the carrier was commissioned two years ago and that most cases have been caused by sailors flushing inappropriate items down toilets, including clothes and towels.

But in a message to sailors' families and friends posted Tuesday on the Bush's Facebook page, the commanding officer, Capt. Brian Luther, said the reports of the toilet problems are exaggerated. "Unfortunately, the blogger has never once contacted us for information and the blog has since been quoted in multiple outlets as undisputed fact," the message says. "The blog casts the ship in a very poor light."

Luther's message says that most times when an entire portion of the toilet system goes out, the problem is resolved in less than 15 minutes, and rarely have repairs taken more than a few hours. Only once did an outage last days. There have been six instances during the deployment in which all of the toilets have gone out at once, and each lasted less than 15 minutes, the message says.

It says the ship has seen few cases of urinary tract infection, and reports have been declining since September.

In a phone interview, Luther said, "There's never been a time when the scenario portrayed by the blogger occurred.... I would not characterize it on that level."

Still, he acknowledged that there have been problems, including frequent clogs - so many that he ordered locks placed on heads to promote accountability. He said he has also recommended changes to the vacuum system that moves waste through the Bush's 250 miles of pipe.

The carrier, which left Norfolk in May for its maiden combat deployment, is the first to be outfitted with a vacuum system, similar to those on commercial airplanes and cruise ships. The Bush's system is divided into two sections, forward and aft. When a section loses vacuum pressure, all of the toilets on that half of the carrier stop working - a situation that doesn't happen on other carriers.

Sometimes clogs can cause a loss of vacuum. Other times, disconnected vacuum hoses or broken flushing mechanisms are to blame.

Luther said he has recommended that wider pipes be used with the vacuum system to reduce clogs and vacuum disruptions. He added, though, that system changes wouldn't be necessary if sailors flushed only what they are supposed to. He said the system has never clogged because of human waste or toilet paper, and sailors responsible for maintaining the system have found an unimaginable array of items lodged in pipes, including mop heads, T-shirts, underwear, towels, socks, hard-boiled eggs and eating utensils.

"It's not a perfect system, but it does work if used properly," he said.

Luther said he decided to allow ship departments and squadrons to install coded locks on their heads to cut down on the vandalism; he figured the locks would limit use of the heads to sailors assigned to that division or sleeping area, thereby promoting a sense of ownership for individual heads and discouraging sailors with access from flushing improper materials.

And he said it worked. Clogs dropped dramatically after the locks were installed. He said he only decided to do away with them as a matter of fairness when he learned there were not enough locks on board for all departments and squadrons.

Brotherton said Wednesday that she stands by her characterization of the extent of the problem, as does her son, with whom she exchanged emails that morning. "I'm not backing down," Brotherton said. "There needs to be a fix here - some kind of contingency plan."

Luther said in his Facebook message that the publicity about the Bush's toilets has done little more than distract from his sailors' accomplishments during their deployment, which is nearly over. Besides launching aircraft for missions over Iraq and Afghanistan, he noted, Bush sailors have hosted foreign dignitaries, foreign media and coalition partners, all of whom "have left singing the praises of the sailors and their ship."

In comments posted after Luther's message, some relatives of Bush sailors expressed relief.

"Thanks so much for putting my mind at ease," one wrote. "My daughter is also on the Bush and I was really worried."

Others, though, did not seem assuaged: "My husband is on the Bush and he has told me of this issue several times. After working on the flight deck all day in the heat, who wants to walk around the ship for 30 minutes looking for an operable head?"

Corinne Reilly, (757) 446-2949, corinne.reilly@pilotonline.com