answer, but i sure would like to hear beijing justify what they re doing. that said, these are intercepts. now, look, air and maritime intercepts happen all the time. it s done professionally and done inside the international law and it s done in accordance with the rules of the road. these two you saw recently they have happened with more frequency than we would like, not all of them are unsafe and unprofessional, but these two were. you saw in the air intercept they forced our aircraft and our c-135 to basically go through the jet wash. you saw the bump in the cockpit, that shows you how close that chinese fighter was to our jet. and in the maritime intercept, 150, 140 yards, speaking as an old sailer myself, i will tell you that s pretty close when you re in open waters like that. you can see the head of steam
was a six month wait. i told them this could be a reason why deaths are occurring. reporter: what did they say? i was met with the same negative feedback. reporter: in the past 12 months, the navy says seven sailers on the uss george washington have died, at least four by suicide. sailers say they brought in health resources after three suicides occurred in one week in april. one of those was xavier sander, just a year out of high school. his father says he will always be the family hero. he loved his job. he did his 12-hour shifts and how do you sleep on an aircraft carrier with smokes and smells during the day? so, he would with sleep in his car. it s just awful. no sailer should have even been living on that ship in those conditions. reporter: the master chief
unlivable. these images from the ship provided to cnn show the conditions on board. these videos, a broken washing machine flooded nearby compartments. a bathroom in disrepair. cnn was unable to board theship to see it first hand but sailors say this was the norm. one sailor who wanted to remain anonymous told us about power outages, they just run out of food and if they have anything left, if you re lucky a cereal thing or a chicken leg that may or may not be undercooked. reporter: what happened when you tried to flag these issues to your superiors? nothing. reporter: on facebook, former sailer said he was so friggin happy when he found out he was assigned to the carrier not far from his home in richmond. soon he says weekend trips home became an escape. he tried to make a trip with the psychologist only to find out it
11 marine, a sailer and an army soldier yr the final americans killed in the afghanistan war. they are heroes, and it is for us to remember what has been sacrificed. remember who has been lost. tonight nbc news correspondent peter alexander brings us their stories. reporter: behind every name is a story and a family in grief. just days before her death, this sergeant wrote, i love my job, posting this picture of her cradling an afghan baby. from her dad, she will always be his little girl. she was my hero. she s a warrior. she s caring.