ROB LAYMAN/Valley Press
Posted on 05/03/2003 6:49:53 PM PDT by BenLurkin
LANCASTER - Brent Sforzini, a U.S. Navy fire controlman, and his shipmates aboard the USS Shiloh spent their deployment in the Persian Gulf as part of the USS Abraham Lincoln Battle Group during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Friday, Sforzini brought back stories from the battle group to the students at Lincoln Elementary School in Lancaster.
A week ago, when the ship docked in San Diego, the 24-year-old Sforzini and his shipmates were greeted by a crowd of people cheering and waving American flags.
At Friday morning's assembly in the school yard, Lincoln School students cheered and waved small American flags to welcome Sforzini back to the Lancaster neighborhood where he lived for 11 years before joining the Navy at age 18.
"I want to thank you for all your support and cards," said Sforzini, as a mild morning breeze unfurled the large, sunlit America flag posted behind him.
"I'm so happy to be home. It's great to be home. And it's great to see all the flags, the yellow ribbons and children like you. I still get choked up about it. It was a real honor to serve you."
Fifth-grade teacher M. J. Montagut, a neighbor of Sforzini's parents, Mary and Don, arranged Sforzini's visit to the school.
Following the short assembly, which also featured the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of patriotic songs, Sforzini went to Montagut's classroom to meet and talk with students eager to ask him questions about his Navy career and life aboard ship during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
On the way to the classroom, a student walking alongside the uniformed Sforzini, looked up at him and asked, "Did you bomb half of Iraq?"
Sforzini chuckled.
"I don't know about half of it, but we bombed some of it."
Answering the call
The USS Shiloh is a Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser based in San Diego. On Christmas Day in Perth, Australia, the Shiloh had only 14 days left in its original deployment when its crew received word that the ship was ordered to the Persian Gulf for an indefinite period of time.
During Operation Iraqi Freedom, the ship and its crew played a vital support role, carrying out a series of combat operations and Tomahawk cruise missile launches.
"We fired a total of 35 Tomahawk missiles," Sforzini told the fifth-graders. "I hope all of the Tomahawk casualties were military casualties."
A 1996 graduate of Quartz Hill High School who attended elementary school at Grace Lutheran School in Lancaster, Sforzini said he was impressed by the students' questions.
Montagut said her students worked on a world events unit and learned about Sforzini after their teacher contacted his mother, who provided the class with photos and portions of messages her son sent her via e-mail from aboard his ship.
"After that, the class and another class put together some cards for him," Montagut said. "He said he was so impressed by them that he wanted to meet the kids who sent him the cards.
"The thing I love about special projects like this is that children need inspiration for their futures. They are at the age where they are deciding how they want to live their lives. They need to hear about discipline in life, about having good routines, about setting good examples. And they hear that from servicemen."
The students' questions came fast and furious - "Have you ever been wounded?" "What does the food taste like?" "Have you ever killed anyone?" "When you shoot missiles, is it loud?"
Sforzini didn't balk with his answers - "No, I have never been wounded, but I've fallen down a ladder on the ship and hurt myself." "The food tastes much like the food in your cafeteria does. There are moments where the food is really good and moments when it's peanut butter and jelly." "No. The way the Navy does a war is that it plays from a distance." "Yes, the missiles are loud. We wear earplugs and still cover our ears."
'Impressive sight'
Sforzini used a world map rolled down from the classroom ceiling to show students where the USS Abraham Lincoln Battle Group was during its time in the Persian Gulf.
To his right, taped onto the classroom's white marker board, were some of the photos taken from aboard the Shiloh.
He pointed to a photo of his boarding party in an inflatable boat during a boarding operation.
"My job when we boarded other ships was security," Sforzini said. "We would have to secure the crew of the ship we were boarding and searching. Most ships had about 35 crew members, and there were only four of us securing them."
Shiloh crewmen boarded 96 ships in the Persian Gulf, Sforzini said, including one ship that was caught smuggling more than 700 metric tons of Iraqi oil, making it one of the biggest oil smuggling busts during the Shiloh's gulf deployment.
"Did you see any sharks?" "Did you ever see Saddam?" "Have you ever met the president?" "How much (money) do you make?" "What is the hardest part of your job?"
Sforzini's answers were quick, yet thoughtful.
"Yes, we saw lots of sharks. When we went swimming, which was only twice, we had guys on the back of the ship with rifles to shoot the sharks if they came too close when we were swimming." "No, I didn't see Saddam, and I hope he didn't see me." "I make enough money to have a car, to buy food and have a house. I'm not underpaid." "The hardest part of my job is sleep deprivation. During war you don't get much time to sleep and you get very tired."
When asked "What is the favorite part of your job?" Sforzini smiled.
"I like working on my equipment, but the most satisfaction I get is shooting a missile."
He explained that he was responsible for firing ship-to-air missiles, but none were launched because Iraq's air force wasn't utilized during the war.
Sforzini said the Shiloh launched Tomahawk missiles in the initial strike of the war and for the following five or six nights.
"The most we launched in one day was 13 Tomahawk missiles," Sforzini said. "We fired them both night and day. The nighttime launches light up the sky, but I think the daytime launches are more special.
"In the daytime, you can see the Tomahawk deploy its wings and lose its booster. It's quite an impressive sight."
Sforzini told the students when he returns to his ship at the end of his two weeks' leave, he will have four more months aboard ship before receiving shore duty.
In three years, once his Navy commitment is completed, he hopes to pursue a law enforcement career.
"I am definitely getting more out of the Navy than what I expected when I joined up," Sforzini said. "With the war, we got to do many of the things we train to do. All of the training, all of the work, well, it all came together."
"I make enough money to have a car, to buy food and have a house. I'm not underpaid."
Phew...certain 'fundraisers' (exploiters) last week made it sound as though we left the children of our military starving and without a future. Our troops will get the respect they deserve, finally - Americans will see to it, but accusing us of starving our soldiers when we aren't? That's not right.
These community efforts really do show what America and the Heartland are all about.
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