‘We need the support right now’: Parents of missing Theodore Roosevelt sailor plead for answers

The aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) flies a replica of Capt. Oliver Hazard Perry’s “Don’t Give Up the Ship” flag as it approaches Apra Harbor, Guam June 3, 2020. (Naval Air Crewman (Helicopter) 1st Class Will Bennett/Navy)

Twenty-year-old Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Apprentice Ethan Goolsby just graduated from Navy basic training in January.

The San Antonio, Texas, native — an only child — is missing, according to the Navy, reportedly going overboard on the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt on Thursday.

Now his parents, also new to the military life, are pleading for help.

“We need the support right now from the other Navy moms and parents,” Michelle Goolsby told Navy Times reporter Geoff Ziezulewicz Friday.

The Navy has confirmed that Goolsby is the sailor missing, but as multiple ships search off the coast of California, no further information has been released.

The family also wants more information from the Navy, which Goolsby’s parents say sent a casualty assistance officer to their home.

A sailor was unaccounted for during a commandwide muster, the U.S. 3rd Fleet said in a press release. That was about 12 hours after a “man overboard” call.

“They told us (the Naval Criminal Investigative Service) is investigating and they really can’t share any more information at this point,” Michelle Goolsby told Navy Times. “We know there’s been a lot of things that’s happened on that ship, with the COVID, and I have questions.”

“Is there netting around the ship?” she continued. “We keep hearing all kinds of different things. We just want updates. What are they doing today?”

A massive COVID-19 outbreak took hold of the Theodore Roosevelt this spring, sidelining the ship in Guam for nearly two months and infecting roughly a quarter of its sailors.

The COVID controversy led to the firing of the ship’s captain, Capt. Brett Crozier — after an email he sent pleading for more help was leaked to the media. Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly later resigned after audio leaked of him calling the captain, “too naïve or too stupid,” to command the ship, which is now back at sea on a “double pump” deployment.

Goolsby had to quarantine for five weeks after a visit home that ended in early November, his parents told Navy Times, noting that he said meals were sometimes not delivered to his room — and that he later had to go into quarantine again when a shipmate tested positive for the virus.

“He was worried about being ready because of quarantine,” Goolsby’s father told Navy Times. “He felt rusty.”

“He did say he was exhausted,” Michelle Goolsby said.