THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 10, 1996 TAG: 9607100367
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: AT SEA
DATELINE: ABOARD THE CARRIER ENTERPRISE LENGTH: 78 lines
The buzz in the air among friends in the chow line, passageways, work centers and berthing areas centers on the long six months ahead.
Older married sailors, headed to sea for the last time before retirement, have survived long deployments before. They know what to expect and are upbeat about the challenges ahead.
Younger married sailors deploying for the first time talk about how difficult it is leaving when they have young children, their voices full of pain.
But for everyone, the first hours after leaving the pier are tough. The months of preparation - of pre-deployment conferences, family separation seminars, reading pamphlets on what it will be like - none of it really readies you for that moment when you have to say goodbye.
And nothing prepares you for the hours that follow, a time in which questions multiply in each sailor's head. Who will protect my family? Who will be there to take care of all the things Dad or Mom did?
Everything will be OK, you tell yourself, but you feel helpless.
Until it gets busy.
Shortly after leaving Norfolk, the calm of the flight deck is shattered by the first jet roaring aboard. The engines and loud whine of the arresting gear machinery are heard throughout much of the ship and you know they're back - the world's best military aircraft and pilots.
Soon they'll all be on board and we'll be one of the most formidable forward-deployed forces in the world.
One by one, the aircraft land and the action quickly picks up. There's no room for sadness, distractions or foggy minds when landing and launching aircraft on a few acres of runaway. Every sailor involved has to have his head in the game.
For three days, the squadrons of Carrier Air Wing 17 requalify their pilots, safely logging more than 200 launches and arrested landings off the coast of Virginia.
There's another prevailing feeling, one of gratification in sailing overseas on a ship that underwent the largest refueling and most complex overhaul in the Navy's history.
Most of the sailors on board played a huge role in stripping Enterprise down to a hulk of metal and bringing it back to life.
``Knowing what the ship used to look like, I never thought this day would come,'' a young, single yeoman in the weapons department says. ``I can't believe it.''
He's glad to be underway, and looking forward to visiting foreign ports as a crewman of this reinvigorated carrier. His anticipation is typical: Excitement builds as the carrier takes on the last of the air wing, the guided missile destroyer Mitscher nearby.
Mitscher is serving as plane guard, responsible for rescuing aviators from the sea in the event of an accident.
The destroyer Briscoe, guided missile frigates Klakring and Robert G. Bradley and the fast combat support ship Supply headed east out of Norfolk, and are now ahead of Enterprise in the Atlantic. Enterprise will join up with them before reporting to Sixth Fleet.
The amphibious assault ship Saipan, dock landing ship Gunston Hall and amphibious transport dock Austin headed south June 28 to Morehead City, N.C., to pick up the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, its equipment and aircraft. They, too, now are steaming toward the Mediterranean Sea.
During the transit, all the ships will conduct arduous training exercises in different warfare areas to ensure they arrive to the Med trained and prepared for any contingency that might lie ahead.
Darkness falls on board Enterprise, and a fresh crew comes on duty.
Some tired sailors go straight to their racks to relax and rest. Others will sit up and talk about home and their families.
We will live, work and eat together for six months, and we know the only way to get through it is by supporting each other.
Others go to the hangar bay to stand by the large doors and just stare at the ocean, stare at the waves as they constantly rise and roll.
Through the calmness creep thoughts and worries, and again, questions: about how our loved ones will spend the Fourth of July weekend, what they'll do for birthdays and anniversaries, what they're doing tonight.
Ultimately, as the evening grows late, the strong emotions of the long day give way to faith - faith that everyone will be safe at home. MEMO: This column was written by several sailors attached to carrier
Enterprise's public affairs office. by CNB