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Posted on 04/11/2003 6:18:39 AM PDT by kattracks
USS Portland, Crew of 320 Returns Home
By SONJA BARISIC .c The Associated Press
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - Hundreds of families stood in the rain and fog Friday, cheering as the USS Portland became the first East Coast-based Navy ship to return home from the war in Iraq.
During its three-month mission, the Portland and its crew of 320 delivered combat Marines and equipment to Kuwait. It came home a bit early because of a needed repair.
``This is an answered prayer,'' said Cheryl Douglas, 47, of Virginia Beach. She was anxiously waiting at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base to greet her husband, Chief Petty Officer Rickey Douglas, 42. She was selected to give the first kiss to a sailor coming off the ship.
Douglas turned to other wives on the pier and asked, ``Have you guys been holding back tears all morning?'' Several women replied, ``Oh, yeah.''
A military band began playing patriotic music as the ship pulled into view at about 7:30 a.m. People in the waiting crowd carried bouquets, American flags, cameras and umbrellas.
The 360-foot ship returned earlier than planned because a high-pressure turbine on the ship went bad, said Lt. j.g. Kelley Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Atlantic Fleet Naval Surface Force.
Anderson stressed, however, that the ship completed its mission by delivering combat Marines and equipment from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade to Kuwait. The Marines and equipment will return later on other ships.
The Portland, which can carry about 340 Marines, left the Little Creek base on Jan. 12. Crew members had just two days' notice that they were deploying.
The ship was part of the seven-ship Amphibious Task Force East, the largest amphibious surge force assembled in more than a decade, carrying approximately 5,000 sailors, 7,000 Marines and tons of heavy equipment and aircraft, the Navy said.
Even before the turbine problem developed, the Portland had been scheduled to be the first ship home from the task force because it had just returned to Little Creek in December from a four-month deployment to South America.
The crew has been gone seven of eight months.
Sailors who become parents while at sea usually are the first to get off the ship. But in the case of the Portland, the seven new fathers were flown home earlier, Navy officials said.
On the Net:
USS Portland: http://www.portland.navy.mil/
Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base: http://www.nablc.navy.mil/
04/11/03 08:57 EDT
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Moored. Shift colors. Welcome home.
Apr 15, 2003
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) _ Bobbie Morse took three cautious, wobbly steps, then toppled into her father's arms.
Robert Morse grinned as he scooped his 13-month-old daughter from the pier. "I hadn't seen her walk yet," he said. "She was still learning to get upright when I left."
Morse, 29, a torpedoman 2nd class from San Antonio, was among 138 sailors aboard the submarine USS Boise returning to Norfolk Naval Station Tuesday morning after a two-month tour of duty in the Iraq war.
It was the first combat ship to return from the war. The USS Portland, a transport ship, returned to Norfolk last week, while another submarine, the USS Toledo, arrived later Tuesday at a submarine base in Connecticut.
Nearly 200 flag-waving friends and relatives waited for the Boise crew on the pier while a Navy band played patriotic songs and a Navy man in an Easter Bunny costume handed Easter baskets to children. The sub pulled in at 7:30 a.m., topped with an American flag and giant red, white and blue streamers.
Hansford T. Johnson, the acting secretary of the Navy, was also on hand to greet the returning sailors.
"It's a great joy to join America as we welcome our first combat ship home," he said. "It's neat to be able to visit with the families before the sub docked, then to watch as their husbands come off the sub."
The enthusiastic homecoming was unusual for a submarine, whose comings and goings are generally kept quiet by the Navy. Spokesman Phil McGuinn said the Navy held the public event so it could show its appreciation for a job well done.
"They slide in very secretly and slide out very secretly," said Karen Kuzma, who was waiting for her husband, Cmdr. James M. Kuzma, with more than a dozen family members. "It's nice to get a welcoming like this. ... There's never all this fanfare."
Her 13-year-old daughter, Lauren, agreed. "He's got his own pep crowd," she said of her dad.
Karen Kuzma said her four children were anxious to see their father again, but they didn't expect it to happen so soon. The 360-foot USS Boise was deployed Feb. 13 to conduct strike operations into Iraq, launching Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The Navy brought the Boise and Toledo home once the heaviest fighting had subsided.
"They're excited because Dad left home with the season passes to Busch Gardens in his wallet, so they're glad he's not going to be away the whole summer," Kuzma said.
Bruna Bryant of Norfolk was waiting to greet her husband, senior chief petty officer Jim Bryant, a sonar tech who plans to retire in September after 20 years in the Navy. Accompanied by their daughter Autumn, 10, she was holding a big sign that read "September is just around the corner, Jim."
She said she had been nervous about her husband leaving to go to war, but "all in all, I still felt they were going to come out of this OK."
"They have a lot to be proud of and so do we. I think they've done a superb job."
For Edmond and Alicia Johnston, the return on Tuesday was made extra special by the fact it was their two-year wedding anniversary. Johnston, 24, a sonar technician from Chesapeake, blinked back tears as he held his 18-month-old son, Timothy.
"I'm just looking forward to spending time with my family. And I hope everyone who is still fighting over there comes home safe, too."
On Friday, hundreds of families welcomed home the USS Portland, the first Navy ship to return home from the war.
During its three-month mission, the Portland and its crew of 320 delivered combat Marines and equipment to Kuwait. It came home a bit early because of a needed repair.
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NORFOLK -- The submarine Boise and its crew of 138 sailors returned today from the war in Iraq, less than a week after the first Navy ship returned from war duty. Nearly 200 friends and relatives waved U.S. flags and listened to a Navy band play patriotic songs at the pier as the sub pulled in at 7:30 a.m., half out of the water and draped at the top in American flags and red, white and blue banners. People dressed up as clowns mingled with Navy families on the dock and a Navy man in an Easter Bunny costume handed out Easter baskets to children. Bruna Bryant of Norfolk was waiting to greet her husband, senior chief petty officer Jim Bryant, a sonar tech who plans to retire in September after 20 years in the Navy. Accompanied by their daughter Autumn, 10, she was holding a big sign that read ``September is just around the corner, Jim.'' She said she had been nervous about her husband leaving to go to war, but ``all in all, I still felt they were going to come out of this okay.'' ``They have a lot to be proud of and so do we. I think they've done a superb job.'' Edmond Johnston, 24, a sonar technician from Chesapeake, blinked back tears as he held his 18-month-old son, Timothy. ``I'm just looking forward to spending time with my family. And I hope everyone who is still fighting over there comes home safe, too,'' Johnston, who planned to spend the day celebrating his two-year anniversary with his wife, Alicia. Among those on the pier was Hansford T. Johnson, the acting secretary of the Navy. ``It's a great joy to join America as we welcome our first combat ship home. It's neat to visit with the families before the sub docked, then to watch as their husbands come off the sub,'' he said. Robert Morse, 29, a torpedoman 2nd class from San Antonio, crouched on the pier with his 13-month-old daughter, Bobbie, to watch her walk. ``I hadn't seen her walk yet. She was still learning to get upright when I left,'' Morse said. He said being home with his family is great but he still has friends in Iraq who are in his thoughts. The Los Angeles class fast-attack submarine was the first among several other Norfolk-based submarines to return to Norfolk Naval Station from the war. The 360-foot USS Boise was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea to conduct strike operations into Iraq, launching Tomahawk cruise missiles. Cmdr. James M. Kuzma and the Boise crew departed Norfolk Feb. 13. On Friday, hundreds of families welcomed home the USS Portland, the first Navy ship to return home from the war. During its three-month mission, the Portland and its crew of 320 delivered combat Marines and equipment to Kuwait. It came home a bit early because of a needed repair.
Submarine Boise returns from war in Iraq
Associated Press
© April 15, 2003
Last updated: 12:41 PM
NORFOLK -- The fast-attack submarine Newport News will return Wednesday to the Norfolk Naval Station after a six-month deployment that included participation in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The Newport News launched several Tomahawk cruise missiles into Iraq during the deployment, the Navy said.
U.S. subs launched approximately 30 percent of the more than 800 Tomahawks fired in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to officials.
The Newport News, a Los Angeles-class submarine, will be the fourth sub to return home after participating in combat action in support of the war.
The submarine, with a crew of 148, left Norfolk Oct. 3 on a regularly scheduled deployment.
It is commanded by Cmdr. Frederick J. Capria.
The Newport News is 360 feet long, displaces 6,900 tons of water and can travel in excess of 25 knots.
Source
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Apr 23, 2003
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) _ The 148 sailors aboard the submarine USS Newport News stepped into a time warp when they returned to Norfolk Naval Station on Wednesday.
The Los Angeles class fast-attack submarine originally had been scheduled to return from deployment in February or March around Mardi Gras time. Instead, the submarine ended up launching several Tomahawk cruise missiles during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sailors' wives who organized the party for the delayed homecoming decided to stick with the Mardi Gras theme. Family members wore colorful beads and masks and feasted on crawfish while waiting for the submarine to pull in.
About 300 family members and friends cheered as the submarine came into view at about 2:30 p.m. The sailors began walking off the sub about 45 minutes later.
Chief Petty Officer Tom Cooper beamed as he held his newborn son for the first time. Ethan Thomas, Cooper's third child, was born six weeks ago.
"I'm just going to go home and relax," Cooper said, not taking his eyes off his son. "It's the simple things in life that you miss."
The 360-foot Newport News was the second Norfolk-based submarine to come home from the war, following the April 15 return of the USS Boise. The Newport News pulled alongside the Boise and sailors walked across gangplanks from one submarine to the other and then to the pier.
The Newport News left on Oct. 3 for a regularly scheduled six-month deployment.
Homecoming ceremonies for submarines are usually kept private because the Navy normally does not disclose submarine maneuvers. The Navy allowed media coverage of the Boise and Newport News homecomings, though, to show appreciation to the sailors for a job well done.
"I'm kind of excited because they never get the coverage they deserve. You know it's the silent service," said Lisa Goings, 32, of Norfolk, who walked around draping colorful Mardi Gras beads around people's necks. Her husband, Chief Petty Officer Greg Goings, is an electronics technician aboard the Newport News.
"It's been such a long cruise," Lisa Goings said. "I was worried about him, but I felt that he was safer on a submarine than somebody on the ground or on a surface ship."
U.S. submarines launched about 30 percent of the more than 800 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired in the war, according to the Navy.
___=
On the Net:
U.S. Atlantic Fleet Submarine Force: Link
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| U.S. Navy file photo
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| Guestbook: Post messages to the troops More conflict with Iraq news |
A Navy official confirmed Tuesday night that the Norfolk-based battle group, with 12 ships and roughly 8,150 personnel, has been released by the U.S. Central Command, which has responsibility for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The battle group will remain in the Mediterranean Sea for a brief time, then will head back across the Atlantic.
The Truman's return will be the first large Atlantic Fleet homecoming after the war with Iraq. From Hampton Roads, nearly 60 ships and 29,500 troops are deployed.
The battle group spent most of its deployment in the Mediterranean, where the Truman air wing flew regular missions over Iraq. Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from submarines and surface ships in the battle group from the Med and the Red Sea.
A late-May return would actually be early for the Truman, which left Norfolk on Dec. 5. Normally, the group's deployment would have ended June 5 -- if the Navy had kept to its usually rigid six-month deployment schedule. Many ships have deployed longer than six months since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
News of the Truman's return will be warmly received by family members of the crew, such as Virginia Beach's Chrissy Becker, whose husband, Daniel, is an aviation electronics technician aboard the carrier. This is her husband's fourth deployment.
``This time was worse than any of the others,'' she said. ``For one thing, it was the war, and for another, the ages of the children.''
The Beckers have three children -- Jacob, 10; Allen, 7; and Danielle, 6. Chrissy Becker said that Danielle will be especially happy to see her father.
``She's a real daddy's girl,'' Becker said.
Emily Agunod of Norfolk also was excited to hear the news. Her husband, Anthony, is an aviation storekeeper aboard the Truman who has been on numerous deployments.
``I've lost count -- I think this is his seventh,'' she said.
Anthony Agunod was also deployed during Desert Storm in 1991, which was difficult, she said, because they were expecting their first child, Arianne, who is now 12. They also have a son, Alex, 9.
``But this one was tougher because of the kids, and the war,'' she said. ``It's hard on the kids because they worry over their dad.''
Another Norfolk-based carrier battle group, the Theodore Roosevelt's, is also in the Mediterranean. The Navy says no decision has been made on when to bring that group back.
The Roosevelt left Norfolk Jan. 6 for a training exercise and had not been scheduled to deploy until June. But the battle group and its 8,400 personnel wound up leaving for the Med immediately after completion of the training, without returning to Norfolk.
Vice Adm. Timothy Keating suggested to reporters on April 12 that the Roosevelt and the Constellation, based in San Diego, likely would be the next to leave, though he would not predict when that would be.
A week ago, the Navy said it was releasing the carriers Abraham Lincoln and Kitty Hawk from Middle East duties. The Lincoln is returning to its base in Everett, Wash., next week and the Kitty Hawk will return to Japan, where it is based.
The Navy has a commitment to supply whatever air support is needed for Operation Iraqi Freedom, and that could keep the Roosevelt at sea for a while longer. However, with the war winding down, the Roosevelt could be released soon.
The Truman battle group, commanded by Rear Adm. John D. Stufflebeem, includes Air Wing 3, on the Truman; the guided-missile cruiser San Jacinto; guided-missile destroyers Oscar Austin, Mitscher and Donald Cook; destroyers Briscoe and Deyo; the guided-missile frigate Hawes; attack submarines Pittsburgh and Montpelier; the oiler Kanawha; and the ammunition ship Mount Baker.
All the ships are based in Norfolk except the Pittsburgh, which is based in Groton, Conn., and the Kanawha and Mount Baker, which have no permanent homeports.
The Roosevelt battle group, commanded by Rear Adm. John C. Harvey Jr., includes Air Wing 8, on the Roosevelt; guided-missile cruisers Anzio and Cape St. George; guided-missile destroyers Arleigh Burke, Porter and Winston Churchill; the destroyer Stump; the guided-missile frigate Carr; the fast-combat support ship Arctic; and two unnamed attack submarines.
Reach Jack Dorsey at 446-2284 or jdorsey@pilotonline.com
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| The Nassau
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| Related: Fighter Squadron 31 returns on May 2 |
The three-ship group is expected home in late May or early June, ending a nine-month deployment for 2,000 sea-weary sailors and 2,300 dusty North Carolina Marines.
The amphibious ready group, at sea since Aug. 26, has received formal notification that it is released from duty in the Persian Gulf. The ships will bring home the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, made up mainly of troops from Camp Lejeune, N.C.
The 24th MEU will be the first Marine force to leave Iraq since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Exact dates for the homecomings have not been announced.
The ready group includes the amphibious assault ship Nassau and amphibious transport dock Austin, both based at the Norfolk Naval Station, and the dock landing ship Tortuga, based at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base in Virginia Beach.
''Ironmen'' pilots return to Langley Air Force Base
By SONJA BARISIC, Associated Press
© April 25, 2003
Last updated: 7:39 PMHAMPTON -- A dozen F-15C fighter pilots who patrolled the skies over Iraq against enemy aircraft during the war came home Thursday to cheers and beers.
About 70 wives, girlfriends, children and friends rushed toward the flight line at Langley Air Force Base to greet the ``Ironmen'' of the 71st Fighter Squadron as they climbed out of their single-seat planes and hoisted celebratory beer bottles.
Nearly 400 other service members, including maintenance and support people for the squadron and others from Langley, are expected to return Saturday. More than 1,000 people from the Langley-based 1st Fighter Wing deployed during the war effort.
``We're all looking forward to taking some time off,'' said Maj. Cory ``Trap'' Bower, who hugged and kissed his girlfriend, Capt. Rochelle Brown, an Air Force nurse also stationed at Langley.
Langley pilots had been heading overseas to enforce a no-fly zone over Iraq since 1991.
``Now we've freed the country and we don't have to do that anymore,'' said Bower, of Worland, Wyo. ``It's not going to be such a drain on our resources, such a drain on our time, drain away from our family. It's going to be a wonderful opportunity for Iraqis, but it's also going to be a great opportunity for us.''
After Bower finished his beer, Brown had champagne on ice and homemade chocolate chip cookies waiting for him in her car.
Brown said that being in the service herself, she hadn't been overly concerned about Bower because she understood his mission.
``I knew they were safe,'' Brown said. ``However, you always have that slight worry, of course'' that something could go wrong.
The pilots deployed Feb. 14 to an undisclosed base in southwest Asia in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Their mission was to shoot down Iraqi aircraft -- something F-15s did in the first Persian Gulf War but didn't end up having to do this time around because no Iraqi planes took off.
``I think it's a very successful mission when the opposing air force doesn't even turn a wheel,'' said squadron commander Lt. Col. Mark ``Curly'' McKenzie, of York, Pa. ``They knew if they took off, they were going to be shot down.''
The F-15s were shot at but none suffered any battle damage and no pilots were hurt, said McKenzie, who was greeted by his wife, Kris, and daughter, Meghan, who just turned 11 two days ago.
``It's really nice'' to have him back, a shy Meghan said.
Earlier Thursday, family members gathered at a lounge on the base to make ``welcome home'' signs and banners. Then they moved outside to wait for the pilots, loudly cheering when the first group of four planes flew overhead at about 2:30 p.m.
A group of kids sat together on a concrete barricade, enthusiastically waving American flags. Five belonged to Renetta Hendricks, whose sixth child was by her side in a stroller.
Her husband, Lt. Col.-select Brent Hendricks, was not among those deployed, but Hendricks said she wanted the kids to be there to welcome home their friend, Capt. Brian Ginapp, who has been selected for promotion to major.
``We're out here supporting the effort,'' Hendricks said. ``I wanted our kids to have an appreciation. They've been following this. We've been praying for soliders, praying for pilots, praying for Maj. Ginapp.''
© 2003 HamptonRoads.com/PilotOnline.com
May 07, 2003
Coast Guard Unit Returns Home
FORT EUSTIS - Like many other American men and women in uniform, the members of U.S. Coast Guard Port Security Unit 305 had answered the call after 9/11.
Once, twice, three times the Coasties of PSU305 left Fort Eustis during the past 20 months, and last night, for the third time, they returned to the waiting arms of loved ones.
This time they had been gone since Valentine's Day, providing port security in Rota, Spain, the gateway to the Mediterranean. Before that they had deployed to New York Harbor and to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
During the most recent deployment, the unit dispatched a team to Naples, Italy to develop anti-terrorism protection guidelines and provided pier security at Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete during a port visit there by the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
It was after midnight Tuesday when the unit's more than 100 members, at least two dozen of them from the Richmond area, arrived back at Fort Eustis. After more than three hours of waiting, Terry Perry couldn't sit still anymore. She had been in the hot, stuffy gym since 8 p.m.
"She's been shaking like this the whole time," said a man seated next to her. "She's shaking the whole bleacher."
Perry was waiting for her husband, Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Reginald N. Perry. The couple has been married more than 11 years.
Each time he comes home, it's like seeing him for the first time all over again, she explained.
"He loves what he does," she said. "But I am ready for him to be home."
RTD
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| Lt. Cmdr. Mark Burgess gets an overdue welcome home from his wife, Trina Burgess, and daughter Brandi, 11, on Friday at Oceana Naval Air Station. More photos. Photo by Mike Heffner.
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| Photos: The Tomcatters come home Guestbook: Welcome home the troops |
VIRGINIA BEACH -- The Tomcatters of Fighter Squadron 31 descended from a clear blue sky Friday afternoon to a phalanx of friends and family who'd been waiting for their heroes for far too long.The squadron, based aboard the carrier Abraham Lincoln, completed a record-breaking near-10-month deployment. Due home in January, the carrier was diverted to the Persian Gulf for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Now, thousands of missions later, with months of longing and the heavy weight of wartime behind them, the pilots and support crew were about to stroll the sunny tarmac of Oceana Naval Air Station.
In the cavernous hangar, the air vibrated. Music blared. Children wandered with flags and balloons, slurping soft drinks. Adults sipped beer and chatted excitedly in the shade.
Among the crowd was the Yim family, sitting near the hangar entrance, waiting for their son, Seaman Daniel Yim, an aviation technician.
His mother, Sun Young Yim, had watched CNN daily, hoping for news of the ship and her son's well-being. When she learned he was coming home, the cooking began.
``Ten months without kimchi,'' she said, shaking her head in pity.
In the hangar's rear stood Jennifer Plaisier, who got word on New Year's Day that her husband's homecoming would be delayed.
She passed the time by convincing herself that she would see her husband, pilot Lt. Matthew Plaisier, in a matter of days, weeks at the most.
``That helps you get through it,'' she said.
The couple, struggling through their first deployment, e-mailed each another as much as possible. Then, in early April, word came that the Lincoln was headed home.
On Friday, all the waiting was about to be history. Plaisier fidgeted, adjusting her dress, shifting back and forth in her heels, keeping one eye trained on the sky.
``I haven't felt this excited since my wedding day.''
Around 4 p.m., a familiar roar crescendoed from above. The hangar emptied as everyone crowded onto the edge of the tarmac.
High above them, the squadron's 10 F-14s soared over in tight formation, peeling off two by two before coming in to land.
The planes taxied toward the hangar and, ever so slowly, lined up in two rows, their engines idling with a howl.
The crowd held signs aloft: WELCOME HOME PAUL! and BACK SO SOON?
``Daddy's coming home!'' yelled a woman with a small, redheaded girl in her arms. ``I know I've been telling you that, but it's true this time.''
Off went the jets' engines. Up went the applause and cheers.
The men climbed down from their cockpits, and the crowd swarmed them.
Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Krusling swooped down to grab his wife, Julie, lifting her off her feet.
After months of regimented days and nights, the pilot's immediate plans were blissfully unfocused:
``Just to spend some time with my family. That's all I care about doing.''
Nearby, Lt. Darren Sweeney, a radio intercept officer, stood festooned with family and friends, who lined up one by one to hug him.
``I'm the proudest mother here,'' said Barbara Sweeney, who had driven down from Annapolis and was gearing up for ``two days of parties.''
She, too, had tracked the Lincoln by watching CNN. Now that her son was home, that vigilance would be replaced by some first-class doting.
``Today is just the happiest day in all our lives,'' she said, motioning to the ecstatic families around her.
Across the runway, with a month of leave ahead of him and his wife on his arm on a warm, beautiful afternoon, Lt. Matthew Plaisier was a happy man.
``I really don't want to go anywhere,'' he said, glancing at his wife. ``I have lots of things to catch up on.''
And 10 months were erased with a kiss.
Reach Matthew Jones at 757-222-5150 or matthew.jones@pilotonline.com
© 2003 HamptonRoads.com/PilotOnline.com
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| Lance Cpl. Daniel Bert heaves on a line during a replenishment at sea onboard the Mount Whitney, which normally serves as the 2nd Fleet's command ship in Norfolk. Photo by Robert Benson / U.S. Navy
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| Guestbook: Welcome home the troops Related: Scheduled homecomings |
And as of Monday, the crew still did not have a homecoming date.
``We think there is a light at the end of the tunnel,'' Capt. David Prothero, the ship's commanding officer, said by satellite telephone. ``The light does not have a date on it yet, but we see it glowing.''
Prothero said the crew is still motivated but that the long time away from home is starting to wear on the more than 1,000 folks aboard the command ship, including 640 Norfolk-based sailors. The Mount Whitney currently is off the Horn of Africa.
``I suspect, like any of the other ships, we're looking for a time to get back,'' Prothero said, ``especially when we see other ships and other Air Force and Army units starting to turn in the right direction.''
The Mount Whitney normally serves as the 2nd Fleet's command ship in Norfolk, and it is unusual for it to be sent overseas. But because of its vast communications capabilities, on Nov. 12 it left to be the mobile command center in a region of the world where no significant land-based command was established.
``The last time we were at pierside was Dec. 4, and we had one four-day period at anchor in the Seychelles,'' Prothero said. ``That was 160 days ago.''
The Republic of Seychelles consists of nearly 100 islands off the coast of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean. The short period of rest and relaxation there is the main break the crew has had on deployment.
So far, the crew has had five swim calls, three volleyball tournaments and six ``steel beach'' picnics, in which the ship's steel deck is used for a cookout, Prothero said.
The shipboard volleyball matches resulted in ``the loss of a few balls here and there,'' Prothero said, adding that there is a rule that sailors aren't allowed to dive for the ball on the Whitney's hard deck.
Sailors once referred to the Mount Whitney as ``Building No. 20'' because it rarely deployed _ 20 is its hull number _ but the ship has lost that reputation now.
``She is gathering no moss,'' Prothero said. ``We've burned 3« million gallons of gas since we left.''
The Mount Whitney has become a floating anti-terrorism command center off the Horn of Africa, steaming back and forth in front of 2,000 miles of east African coast in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.
The crew is supporting a 400-member staff of intelligence specialists, operations officers and others from all the nation's military branches. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. John Sattler commands the staff, whose mission is to track, frustrate and eliminate al-Qaida terrorists seeking to use strife-torn expanses of Yemen, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan as safe havens and bases of operations.
The need for such a headquarters was realized last fall, Prothero said, but there was no facility ashore.
When the war with Iraq began, the command provided a natural staff presence on the southern flank for coalition operations that helped keep a lid on terrorism in that region, he said.
``There was a lot of concern that transnational terrorists were going to use our involvement in Iraq as their reason for retaliatory terrorist attacks against the U.S. and coalition forces, not only in this region but in the U.S.
``The goal was no terrorist attacks in the Horn of Africa and, just as important, no terrorist attacks in the U.S. that were born in the Horn of Africa and exported to it.''
While generally by itself, the Mount Whitney's crew does occasionally see ships from Task Force 150, a multinational group headed by an Italian rear admiral. Task Force 150 includes ships from the United States, Italy, Germany, France and Spain.
Prothero's message to anxious families back home is to remind them that the crew members are doing well.
``Their can-do spirit is what has allowed the ship to stay underway almost the entire time it has been gone,'' he said. ``The e-mail and the mail and care packages and the news from home, showing the families are handling it and sucking up their side of the sacrifice, which is no small issue _ all that helps keep the crew focused here, although they are most certainly ready to come home.
``The mission is not old, but the separation is.''
Reach Jack Dorsey at 446-2284 or jdorsey@pilotonline.com
The following shows the makeup and return dates for ships that will be returning to Hampton Roads.
TRUMAN BATTLE GROUP
8,100 personnel, 10 ships
Thursday, May 22: Air Wing Three returns to Oceana
Friday, May 23: Ships return to Norfolk Naval Station
The ships: Carrier Harry S. Truman; cruiser San Jacinto; destroyers Oscar Austin, Mitscher, Donald Cook, Briscoe and Deyo; frigate Hawes; oiler Kanawha; ammunition ship Mount Baker.
ROOSEVELT BATTLE GROUP
6,200 personnel, 2 ships*
Wednesday, May 28: Air Wing Eight returns to Oceana
Thursday, May 29: Carrier Theodore Roosevelt and cruiser Cape St. George return to Norfolk Naval Station
* Only two of the battle group's nine ships are returning at this time; other ships are expected to remain in the Med until July
NASSAU AMPHIBIOUS GROUP
1,800 personnel, 3 ships
Thursday, May 29: Ships return to Norfolk Naval Station and Little Creek
The ships: Amphibious assault ship Nassau, transport dock Austin and dock landing ship Tortuga
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| Carrier Theodore Roosevelt. File photo.
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 Carrier Harry S. Truman. Homecoming Guide: News, advice, calendar, more |
Ending weeks of speculation about the Roosevelt's date to return, Navy officials said Thursday that the Norfolk-based carrier will be home May 29 -- a week earlier than even the most optimistic rumors circulating among families of crew members.
The addition of the Roosevelt to the homecoming party means that 15 ships and more than 16,000 personnel are expected to return to Hampton Roads from May 22 to May 29. All participated in the war with Iraq.
Several ships and groups of personnel have returned from the Middle East in recent weeks, but this will be the first large-scale homecoming for the Hampton Roads military.
The Norfolk-based Harry S. Truman battle group will kick off the homecoming wave when its air wing returns to Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach on May 22. The carrier group's 10 ships will come into Norfolk Naval Station the next day.
But only part of the Roosevelt battle group is returning this month. The air wing will fly into Oceana on May 28, with the carrier and the cruiser Cape St. George arriving in Norfolk the next day.
The battle group's other seven ships, with about 2,300 aboard, are being kept in the Mediterranean Sea for any unexpected contingencies that might arise from Operation Iraqi Freedom, officials said. The ships are expected home in July, completing about a six-month deployment.
Also expected home on May 29 is the three-ship Nassau amphibious ready group. Navy officials have not confirmed the date, but several family members said they were told the ships would be home that day.
The Truman battle group has about 8,100 sailors, Marines and pilots. The Roosevelt, its air wing and the Cape St. George crew total almost 6,300 personnel. The Nassau group has about 1,800 Navy personnel, and will be dropping off 2,000 Camp Lejeune-based Marines in North Carolina before heading home.
Not since the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991 have so many Hampton Roads-based ships been scheduled to come home in such a short time frame. The last homecoming approaching this magnitude was April 15-20 of that year, when 13 amphibious ships, the carrier America and some of its escorts returned.
The announcement of the Roosevelt's return date was welcome news for family members, who have been wrestling with the rumor mill for weeks.
``Awesome!'' said Sylvia Carbonell, 39, whose husband serves as a gas turbine engine electrician on the Cape St. George. ``It's been flip-flopping so often I didn't know what to think.''
If this latest news holds, Maximo Carbonell should be able to attend the June 8 high school graduation of 18-year-old Javier, his first-born.
``If the plans don't change again,'' his wife added.
Family members of the battle group's crew earlier had been told that the carrier would be home in early June, although one report was circulating that the return might be delayed until October.
Most battle group families missed a chance for an official goodbye before the deployment back in January. The carrier and its attendant ships left for the war straight from training in the Caribbean.
``Excited doesn't even cover it,'' said Eileen O'Hanlon, wife of the Roosevelt's commanding officer, Capt. Richard J. O'Hanlon.
O'Hanlon, an emergency-room nurse and mother of five, said she is used to the chaos of being married to a sailor sent overseas.
``I'm never surprised at anything anymore in the Navy,'' she said. ``I think it was hardest on the `newbies,' as I call the new spouses. Some thought that it was my husband, Rich, who controlled the date. But of course he didn't.''
Now that the return date has been confirmed, spouses such as Andrea Conti, 38, can swing into action.
Conti, a co-chair of the homecoming celebration and wife of Ensign David Conti aboard the Roosevelt, said the families ``couldn't start planning for the homecoming until it was official. Now we'll have to rush.''
A party for Roosevelt families scheduled for next weekend was to celebrate the halfway point in the deployment. They still plan to hoist a sign marking that event.
``Then we'll rip it down and put up `For the Final Fling,' '' O'Hanlon said.
Reach Jack Dorsey at 446-2284 or jdorsey@pilotonline.com Reach Matthew Dolan at 446-2322 or mdolan@pilotonline.com
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| The destroyer Briscoe
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| Homecomings Guide: News, message board, travel help |
``We've had one heck of a deployment, just fantastic from start to finish,'' Cmdr. Scott Sundt, the Briscoe's captain, said from Rota, Spain, as he pointed the 25-year-old ship's bow west toward the Atlantic for its final trip home. ``We have done just about everything a ship could be asked to do. . . . It's easier to list what we didn't do.''
During the past five months at sea, the Briscoe and its crew of 370 fired Tomahawk missiles, performed missions off the Horn of Africa and bounced back and forth between the Mediterranean and Red seas.
The Briscoe, part of the carrier Truman battle group, left Norfolk Dec. 5 in advance of the war in Iraq. Along with most of the 10 other ships in the group, it is due home May 23.
``As soon as we got over here, we started doing escorts through the Strait of Gibraltar,'' Sundt said.
Gibraltar is one of several narrow choke points for warships to pass, where they are more vulnerable to attacks than on the open seas.
``Then we got orders right after Christmas to beat feet and get ourselves through the Suez Canal,'' he said. ``We did that on Jan. 5 and headed straight to the Gulf of Aden and the Horn of Africa.''
They joined a multinational task force commanded by an Italian admiral and patrolled the strait of Bab al Mandab, another choke point for shipping at the southern end of the Red Sea. There they monitored the flow of coalition forces headed to the Persian Gulf, including the seven-ship Amphibious Task Force East from Norfolk that carried more than 5,000 Hampton Roads-based sailors and 7,000 North Carolina-based Marines to the war front.
Working with the command ship Mount Whitney off the Horn of Africa, the Briscoe provided naval gunfire support off the African republic of Djibouti to help train 20 gunnery spotters from five countries.
``In eight hours we shot over 300 rounds into the range and did 32 firing missions,'' Sundt said. ``That was really impressive. I've never seen anything like that in the 28 years I've been in the Navy, and I'm a gunnery type of guy.''
Next the ship was ordered to head back into the northern Red Sea, where it joined eight other ships for the beginning of the war in mid-March.
``We launched 25 Tomahawks over the space of several days,'' he said.
Then the Briscoe was ordered back into the Suez Canal to escort other ships.
Back into the Med, the Briscoe picked up guard duty near Egypt's Port Said, helping out minesweeping ships in the area. Then it was off toward Syria, after the Briscoe received ``some information about some bad guys we thought might be trying to get out.''
The Briscoe was resupplied by ships from Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the United States.
Through all its activity, the ship's crew never suffered a significant casualty.
The Briscoe's crew includes 55 women and and some sailors who are not yet U.S. citizens, Sundt said. They come from Morocco, India, the Philippines and the Caribbean.
``What keeps getting to me is how young everyone is,'' Sundt said. ``My warfighters are 19 and 20 years old. They are not hardened, salty old sailors. These are people who have been in the Navy just one or two years, and here they are sitting in front of consoles, launching Tomahawks.''
Lt. Charles Rogers, 31, the ship's operations officer, said he also was impressed with the crew.
``I was very, very amazed how knowledgeable these kids are at such young ages,'' he said. ``In some cases they are cocky. But they get the job done.''
There is more to firing a Tomahawk than just ``ready, aim, fire,'' Rogers said. Hours of preparation are required to prevent the missiles from hitting one another, or flying over a friendly ship.
On March 21, when 400 of the 800 Tomahawks used in the war were launched, the sky was filled with bright orange flames reflecting off the various ships' decks. Rogers, a transplant from Texas who now calls Norfolk home, is married and the father of two, with a third child expected by August.
``Leading up to the point where the first missile left the rail, the crew was excited,'' Rogers said. ``But when it left the rail, it was a very silencing thing. The gravity of what that missile was on its way to do was kind of humbling.''
Petty Officer 2nd Class Christina Taylor, a boatswain's mate from Chesapeake, watched that night, too. She described the missile firings as somber, with everyone in a ``team mode'' to ``take care of business.''
``I feel good about what we did, because we did our job and did it extremely well,'' said Taylor, who is the mother of a 4-year-old son named Jerit. ``But it is time to go home.''
Reach Jack Dorsey at jdorsey@pilotonline.com or 446-2284.
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Amphibious Task Force East -- the last large group of ships deployed from Hampton Roads for Operation Iraqi Freedom -- is expected to return to their home ports of Norfolk and Virginia Beach before the end of June, Navy officials said Friday. The task force includes about 4,500 sailors who left on six amphibious ships in mid-January for the coast of North Carolina and then the Middle East. The ships are the amphibious assault ships Bataan, Kearsarge and Saipan; the dock landing ships Ashland and Gunston Hall; and the amphibious transport dock Ponce. No arrival date was announced. Additional information on when the ships will be back will be provided when their schedules are determined and approved, the Navy said. On Friday the Navy confirmed the May 29 arrival of three other Hampton Roads-based amphibious ships -- the amphibious assault ship Nassau, transport dock Austin and dock landing ship Tortuga. About 1,800 sailors in the Nassau group are scheduled to drop off 2,000 Marines in Morehead City, N.C., on May 26 and then return to Norfolk and Virginia Beach. Those ships left Aug. 26 and will be completing a nine-month deployment. Earlier in the week, the Navy confirmed the return to Norfolk of the carrier Harry S. Truman and most of its accompanying 11 ships on May 23. However, one ship in that group, the oiler Kanawha, won't return until later in June, according to Military Sealift Command officials. It carries a crew of about 25 naval personnel and 100 civilian Merchant Marines. Also confirmed this week is the return of the carrier Theodore Roosevelt on May 29, the same day the Nassau group returns. Except for the cruiser Cape St. George, which will escort the Roosevelt home, the remaining half-dozen ships in that group will not return until July.
Amphibious task force should return by June's end
The Virginian-Pilot
© May 10, 2003
Last updated: 8:18 PM
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| Under a rising moon on a Kuwaiti beach, the Charlie Company rolls onto a hovercraft headed for the Norfolk-based amphibious assault ship Kearsarge, their ride to the shores of North Carolina. Photo by Dennis O'Brien / The Virginian-Pilot.
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| Readjustment advice: For families / Children Full Homecoming Guide |
``It's official!'' Johnston shouted over the din of the gas turbine engines. ``We're going home!''
A half-hour later, Johnston and the men from Charlie Company, a front-line light-armored reconnaissance unit, were basking in air-conditioning, tearing into long-overdue mail in their berth aboard the Norfolk-based amphibious assault ship Kearsarge.
Twenty-six mailbags were waiting for the boys of Company C. It was like Christmas.
The orange sacks overflowed with care packages, spilling good cheer into the cramped spaces between the ship's coffin racks stacked toward the overhead.
``I had seven packages,'' said Cpl. Jason Schrader, ``way more stuff than I know what to do with.''
Johnston and the rest stripped down for showers and laughed about how they won't need baby wipes and bug juice.
For a couple days, it seemed like they'd never get here.
They had spent the past two days baking under the sun at Camp Doha's washrack. Using pressure washers like at a carwash back home, they tried to clean a war's worth of filth off their light-armored reconnaissance vehicles.
Before the trucks -- and the Marines -- could head for home, they needed to get past agricultural inspector Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Lewis Fenton.
``We're looking for earth of any kind, vegetation, signs of insects or animal parts,'' Fenton said. ``We spend millions of dollars every year on the Mediterranean fruit fly, the gypsy moth and fire ants -- none of which originated in the United States, and all of which came on cargo ships.''
That all sounded fine and reasonable on the morning of the first day of the washdown, but as the sun set that night -- Wednesday -- and Fenton said he was not allowed to certify equipment after dark, and that the washing had to continue the following morning, his attention to detail was, well, growing unpopular.
As Charlie Company slept on the sidewalk next to the wash rack that night, a sandstorm blew in, coating all the freshly scrubbed vehicles in a coat of grime and dust and sand.
And, more importantly, making Wednesday's work worthless.
The company awoke at 4:30 the next morning to the sound of a lone pressure washer, wielded by company commander Capt. Greg Grunwald, who didn't have to say a word.
His men quietly rose, rubbed the sand from their eyes and started scrubbing, again.
Thursday started hot and grew hotter. By noon, it was so hot that fluid started boiling inside hydraulic jacks.
Around 1:30 p.m. -- 28 hours after the washdown began -- Fenton deemed the unit's gear clean enough for the United States. Charlie Company mounted up and rolled south to Camp Patriot on the Kuwaiti coast, where they expected to sleep one more night in a parking lot before boarding the ship.
They were surprised at the beach, though, where they were ordered to roll onto the hovercraft and head for the ship under a near-full moon.
Inside the Kearsarge by 8:30 p.m., the men locked up their vehicles and headed for their old berthing area.
There would be no more gnats, no more enormous camel spiders, no more sandfleas, sandstorms or sand, period. No more sleeping bags -- mattresses and sheets from here home.
No more latrines, either -- actual flushing toilets are a short walk from their racks. Outside the berthing area sit three sailor phones, for those one-buck-a-minute calls home.
Downstairs from the phones and 100 yards aft is the chow hall, where three hot squares are served with ice-cold drinks.
``It's so nice to get back to civilization,'' said platoon sergeant Staff Sgt. Nelson Hidalgo.
The Kearsarge is not home, but it almost is, and not just for the creature comforts.
Being aboard means Operation Iraqi Freedom is behind them, and -- barring another international crisis -- the next beach Charlie Company will storm will be North Carolina's.
Dennis O'Brien has been with the Marines of Task Force Tarawa since they left the coast of North Carolina in mid-January. You can reach him at dennis.obrien@pilotonline.com
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| The destroyer Donald Cook. File photo.
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| Homecoming Guide |
``It's all downhill from here,'' said Capt. M. Stewart O'Bryan, commander of Destroyer Squadron 22. O'Bryan was talking by satellite telephone Thursday as the carrier Harry S. Truman battle force continued to head west toward a homecoming in Norfolk next Friday.
Formed in a loose circle, traveling about five miles apart, the nine ships in the strike group were just beyond 45 degrees west longitude, streaming through large but gentle Atlantic Ocean swells.
O'Bryan, riding with his staff aboard the Norfolk-based destroyer Donald Cook, called the deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom remarkable for its swiftness and success.
He commanded up to eight ships -- including some from other squadrons -- capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles into Iraq. Of the 400 Tomahawks launched on March 21 -- the heaviest missile-campaign day of the war -- 240 came from the ships he oversaw in the Red Sea.
After the shooting ended, while heading back to the Mediterranean Sea from the Persian Gulf, O'Bryan's ships neared the southern Yemeni port of Aden. It was April 21, and the terrorist attack on the Norfolk-based destroyer Cole was on everyone's mind. Seventeen of the Cole's sailors were killed in the Oct. 12, 2000, attack; another 40 were injured.
``We laid to south of Yemen and the DESRON 22 ships had a moment of silence, then fired our 5-inch guns in a 21-gun salute in honor of those sailors who lost their lives,'' he said.
O'Bryan commanded the Cole in 1997.
``It was hard. I knew several of those sailors, and my thoughts and prayers still go out to those families,'' he said.
Cmdr. John P. Cordle, commanding officer of the destroyer Oscar Austin -- making its maiden voyage -- was traveling Thursday alongside the Donald Cook. He served as executive officer of the Cole six months before the attack.
``It was a very chilling experience for me to look across and see the same place,'' Cordle said of the deck gun salute.
``But it really gave the crew a sense of focus. We came over here to combat the same terrorists who started this war with their opening blast on the Cole,'' he said.
Cmdr. John J. Costello, commanding officer of the Donald Cook, called the deployment, which began for the strike group on Dec. 5, ``the most dynamic'' of the eight he's seen during his 20-year career.
Costello, who will surrender command of the Donald Cook a week after it returns home, said his ship and crew were under way 81 percent of the time during the cruise. The longest stretch was 69 consecutive days at sea.
For Petty Officer 2nd Class Jody Ganas, 30, a signalman aboard the Donald Cook, the trip across the Atlantic can't end too soon.
``We're ready to pull back into Norfolk.
``I just hope everyone is proud of us for what we've done and for what we've accomplished,'' Ganas said.
Russell McCrary, 21, of Norfolk, a petty officer second class, hopes he'll make it home in time to see the birth of his first child.
McCrary's wife is due to give birth June 15.
Five crew members aboard the Oscar Austin have had children born back home during the cruise.
Petty Officer 1st Class Mervin Walls, 30, of Hampton, is anxious to see his wife and two sons. His boys have already planned trips to a baseball game, amusement park, movies.
For Father's Day, Wall intends to treat his wife.
``She's been holding it together,'' he said.
But Petty Officer 1st Class Latonya Scott, a storekeeper aboard the Oscar Austin, wants to reward her husband, Teryl, who lives in Chesapeake.
``My husband has been mother, father and teacher of our 4-year-old for the last six months,'' Scott said. ``He has done all this while working 50-plus hours a week. My son has had surgery while I was deployed and was fitted with braces for both legs.
``Without my husband taking care of everything, putting my mind at ease, there is no doubt I wouldn't have made it through this deployment.''
More than 8,000 sailors make up the Truman strike group. In addition to the Truman, Oscar Austin and Donald Cook, they include Air Wing 3 -- scheduled to get back on Thursday -- the cruiser San Jacinto, destroyers Mitscher, Briscoe and Deyo, the frigate Hawes and the oiler John Lenthall.
| Background Coverage: Tips for readjusting your family after a deployment Ship profiles: Guided-missile frigate Hawes Destroyer Deyo |
So are the destroyer Deyo’s endless Tomahawk launch rehearsals. The ship ultimately launched 26 of the missiles during the war in Iraq.
With both ships headed home as part of the carrier Harry S. Truman battle group - they’re more than halfway across the Atlantic today - it’s time for really important ‘‘stuff’’ to take center stage, according to the crew.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Juan Garcia, 22, can’t wait to see his 14-month-old daughter walk for the first time when he arrives here on Friday.
‘‘I’ve never seen that,’’ Garcia, a gas turbine technician aboard the Hawes, said late last week. ‘‘She started walking at eight months, and we were out here,’’ added Garcia, who was among Hawes and Deyo sailors interviewed via satellite phone.
Petty Officer 1st Class Anthony Rich, 38, of Virginia Beach, said he is looking forward to seeing his 16-year-old son drive.
‘‘He got his driver’s license while I was gone, so I missed the initial melee. ButI heard he’s become quite good,’’ said Rich, the Deyo’s sailor of the year.
Rich’s son doesn’t plan to meet him at the Norfolk Naval Station pier, though. ‘‘He has a perfect attendance record and we don’t want him to leave school,’’ Rich said.
Petty Officer 1st Class Robert McCalla, 40, of Hampton, simply wants to see his wife, Barbara, and three children when he steps off the Hawes. ‘‘Believe it or not, in almost 20 years of service, this is my first six-month deployment,’’ McCalla said. ‘‘I took a lot of overseas and isolated duties in Spain, in Puerto Rico and at Gitmo twice. They count for sea-duty rotation.’’ Gitmo is the nickname sailors have given the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
As the ships of the Truman group near homeport, the mood aboard becomes more festive, according to crew members.
‘‘We’ve fulfilled our combat duties and we’re bringing everyone home safely,’’ Cmdr. Todd W. Bostock, the Hawes’ commanding officer, said of the 235 crew members aboard his ship.
The Hawes spent much of its deployment conducting escort duties and inspections, plus working with NATO’s Standing Naval Force Mediterranean. The missions are age-old ones for the Navy, Bostock said, but important to ensure safety of U.S. and allied ships as they pass close to the choke points around Gibraltar.
Cmdr. James A. Pelkofski, the Deyo’s captain, said that this marked the first time his 23-year-old ship has fired Tomahawks missiles. The ship will be retired in November.
‘‘So this has been a heck of a great way to go out,’’ Pelkofski said. His 350-member crew ‘‘performed magnificently,’’ he said. ‘‘These young men and women represent this century’s greatest generation and they certainly rose for the occasion for this deployment.
‘‘We got our mind set for this deployment back on Sept. 11, 2001. At that point we set ourselves to prepare for a wartime deployment. When we deployed on Dec. 5, it was with Sept. 11 in mind and with the firm knowledge we were deploying for war.
‘‘These young men and women are war fighters and they are veterans now of a fantastic victory. We are ready for action wherever, whenever.’’
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