Shopping to bar-hopping: USS Abraham Lincoln sailors unwind in Thailand after 250-day voyage

ByJonathan Head South East Asia correspondent, Reporting fromPattaya, Thailand.

Key points

• Shakeira Fairfax, the mother of 25-year-old crew member Jada Fairfax, informed Reuters there had been moments over the past few months when "morale was low".
• The crew have been well-drilled not to talk regarding conditions on board the USS Abraham Lincoln during its long combat deployment in the operation against Iran.
• The decision by the USS Abraham Lincoln to stop in Pattaya makes a lot of sense.
• She described the period after hostilities broke out in the Middle East as an "uncertain" and "scary" time.
• With their military haircuts, moustaches and navy t-shirts, they stood out against the usual Pattaya crowd in its flip-flops and beach-ware.

Far from hitting the bars and fleshpots of the Thai beach resort of Pattaya, in their first hours onshore most of the almost 5, 000 sailors from the USS Abraham Lincoln seemed determined to go shopping.

At the Hard Rock Hotel – one of two beachside hotels where they were able to stay off the ship – they hung around clutching their recent purchases. After a record 250 days confined inside a grey steel warship, the normality of a trip to the mall might have been just what they needed, but perhaps.

Night, though, is where this resort city comes into its own and puts on a riotous spectacle of neon, noise and naughty bars.

For context, the few small establishments that makeup the heart of Pattaya's sex industry had been declared off-limits, a disappointment for the bikini-clad women packing the bars of Soi 6 who had been hoping for a windfall – from the sailors' nine months of unspent salary while at sea.

Conflict in the Middle East, where the USS Abraham Lincoln was last operating, has impacted business in Pattaya, with plenty of of the tourists the city depends on choosing to stay at home.

But on Wednesday night, the city's most famous promenade, Walking Street, was particularly much open to the sailors, with a enormous, illuminated sign at its entrance welcoming the crew of the US carrier.

By midnight some of the younger sailors there were so inebriated they had to prop each other up. Others edged nervously into the red-lit caverns of the go-go bars, with their gyrating and barely-clothed pole dancers.

Conversation over the pounding music was challenging. One older crew member informed us they really needed the break.

"The news notes we've been at sea for nine months. To be honest I've lost track of time", he remarked.

"It obtained boring. It's never major enough on board. It's major but it still feels a boat, especially when you're sharing it with thousands of residents." How long would it take them to obtain home to California? "Too long" he remarked.

"I just can't wait to see her smile. I can't wait to hear 'mum', I know that's the first thing she's gonna say, " Fairfax continued.

Notably, the crew have been well-drilled not to talk regarding conditions on board the USS Abraham Lincoln during its long combat deployment in the operation against Iran. It have been the subject of criticism back in the US.

Some sailors were wary of making any conversation at all. Others referred journalists' questions to their media teams. Visible everywhere in Pattaya were the men wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the letters SLG, or Shore Liaison Group.

It is their job to maintain discipline on land, to watch out for the crew members, some of whom are particularly young and inexperienced, and to co-ordinate with the local authorities during port calls.

US Naval Attache Kristopher Robinson did not answer questions from the BBC regarding activities that soldiers were banned from doing while in Pattaya, saying that "we're trying to give the sailors as much opportunity for rest as they can".

US personnel, he continued, would "conduct themselves in accordance with US law, US naval regulations, and the laws of Thailand".

Notably, the decision by the USS Abraham Lincoln to stop in Pattaya makes a lot of sense. Port calls by the US Navy in Thailand, a long-standing treaty ally, are routine with well-established protocols.

It is additionally on the ship's route back to the Gulf to California, giving the crew a chance to let off steam, and enjoy a break from the demands of life on board a warship.

If their stop in Thailand does the trick, any frustration they may feel over their unexpectedly long and tough mission may have dissipated by the time they obtain home.

For now, shopping to bar-hopping: USS Abraham Lincoln sailors unwind in Thailand after 250 remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.