DATE: Thursday, August 28, 1997             TAG: 9708270722

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL  

COLUMN: AT SEA  

TYPE: Military  
SOURCE: BY LT. J.G. RICKY ROBINS 

                                            LENGTH:   69 lines

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: ***************************************************************** Romania is on the Black Sea, not the Baltic, as stated in a Military Page column Thursday. Correction published Friday, August 29, 1997. ***************************************************************** SHIP'S CREW MAKES FRIENDS WITH ORPHANS IN ROMANIA

A tour of duty usually implies work - hard work and plenty of it.

But a magic show?

For Lt. John Gibson, weapons control officer aboard the guided missile cruiser Thomas S. Gates, it was all in a day's work.

When a group of Romanian orphans toured the ship, Gibson was prepared to wow them with more than weaponry. As they sipped juice in the ship's helicopter hangar, crewmen donned special firefighting suits and Gibson began the show.

It was all part of the Norfolk-based cruiser's goodwill work while deployed to the Baltic. The Gates was host to children from Casa Speranza, an orphanage in Constanta, Romania.

The little guests arrived full of excitement, ready to see an American warship for the first time. For the 23 children and their adult chaperones, the ship was a floating marvel.

Each crewman was paired off with a child with whom they spent the entire day. The children were treated to demonstrations of the ship's missile launcher, the close-in weapons system, the combat information center and the bridge.

The children were amazed at the movement of the missile launcher and the gun. But the highlight of the ship's tour had to be the bridge and combat information center, where the children were allowed to push buttons and play with sound-powered phones.

The president of Casa Speranza was alarmed, fearing that the ship would never operate the same after 23 children finished with it. But Lt. Cmdr. Tony Krueger, the ship's operations officer, calmed her right down. Our equipment, explained Krueger, is designed to be child-proof.

That's one spec you don't often find in a Pentagon contract but, as the Gates crew can attest, the ship took a childish pounding and came through unscathed.

During a lunch of typical American Navy chow, the children were treated to a video. Chief Christopher Arnaud, the ship's electronics technician, had created the video from the crewmen's tour of the orphanage the previous day, together with footage of the children onboard.

Each time the children saw themselves, they screamed out their names and laughed. It was a warm ending to a tour in support of Partnership for Peace.

``I am continually amazed at the bond that is created between the children and the sailors,'' the orphanage president said as she left. ``What the Americans have provided here is an outstanding example for Romanians on what volunteering is all about.''

For their part, seven members of the ship's crew had an opportunity to tour the Romanian navy's only submarine, the diesel-powered Delfin. The rare opportunity to see, firsthand, the Russian-built sub was an experience not easily forgotten.

But, all in all, the weaponry of both Romania and the Thomas S. Gates paled in comparison to the power of the friendships created with a sip of juice, a few push-buttons and a magic show. MEMO: Lt. j.g. Ricky Robins is public affairs officer aboard the cruiser

Thomas S. Gates.

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