When the USS Abraham Lincoln docked in Thailand after nine months at sea, its rust-streaked hull became an unintended symbol of something larger than one ship's wear. The vessel had been sustaining American and Israeli operations against Iran in the Middle East — a relentless assignment in corrosive waters — and its weathered exterior prompted observers to ask how long a nation's most powerful instruments of force can be pushed before endurance becomes vulnerability. Military experts were quick to note that the deterioration itself is ordinary; what is not ordinary is the operational tempo tha