NORFOLK — After nearly nine months at sea, sailors aboard the USS Harry S. Truman and its strike group look forward to fast food and home-cooked meals, birthday celebrations and trips across the country now that they’re back on land.
Cheers reverberated and happy tears flowed Sunday as thousands gathered to welcome home sailors from a deployment mostly spent near the Red Sea in active combat. The strike group that returned over the weekend to Naval Station Norfolk includes the aircraft carrier Truman, cruiser USS Gettysburg and destroyer USS Stout.
Family members and loved ones had plenty of reasons to be nervous during this deployment. The Truman spent at least five of the eight months defending merchant ships and military vessels and carrying out missile strikes against the Houthi regime in Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Along the way, the Truman lost three fighter jets, collided with a cargo ship and brought aboard a new commanding officer.
It was “unique” — even for seasoned sailors such as Rear Adm. Sean Bailey, commander of the Truman carrier strike group.
“From the high north to the Red Sea, our strike group safeguarded America’s national security interests and maintained the U.S. Navy’s maritime dominance,” Bailey said during a news conference Sunday. “It was certainly a long, challenging deployment across the board and pretty unique for my entire career as well.”
Bailey said those incidents are being investigated and will serve as lessons in the future.
The strike group also worked with Africa Command to conduct an airstrike that delivered more than 120,000 pounds of munitions against ISIS Somalia operatives, “demonstrating that we are the world’s strongest and most lethal fighting force,” Bailey said.
“We didn’t just deploy. We delivered,” he said.
It was the ninth deployment for Chief Warrant Officer Travis Rivers, who was welcomed home by his wife, Latoya Rivers, and children Travis and Troi. Latoya Rivers said he’d soon get to enjoy a big home-cooked meal — potentially his favorite of ox tails and yellow rice. And he’ll get to celebrate Troi’s 16th birthday this week, and catch up on movies with Travis, like the recently released “Thunderbolts.”
“Even with everything going on, we knew that we were protected,” Latoya Rivers said. “We trust the U.S. Navy and we trust God as well.”
The family said it did its best to detach from the news during the deployment to ease their worry, and that it was particularly challenging since it was “out of our control.”
“It was worth it and something that needed to be done,” Travis Rivers said about the deployment. “It was hard at times but we came together as a team and we got through it.”
Meanwhile, Cryptologic Technician DeJour Glasgow made a special request to stop by McDonald’s for three McChickens and large fries following his first deployment, his mother said. Glasgow will get to celebrate his birthday and move in with girlfriend Adrianna Waring, who is also in the Navy and was deployed in Bahrain before the Truman’s departure. His brother, Delahn Glasgow, also is in the Navy, and both were able to pass along advice about the “stressful environment.”
“It was so stressful,” said his mother, Angela Thomas. “I tried not to watch the news as much but I had to follow it on Facebook. Today is like a joy.”
Debbie and Richard Johnston drove more than 1,200 miles from Heavener, Oklahoma, to welcome their son, Lt. Brandon Dedmon, who spent more than two decades with the Air Force before transferring to the Navy last year.
Around a dozen family members showed up for Petty Officer Andrea Mosquera, on her first deployment. She said she’s ready for a return to her native California.
Capt. Chris Hill, who took command of the Truman aircraft carrier in February after the collision, said the return home from this deployment was “absolutely eye watering.” Hill is the commanding officer of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier, which completed a deployment in the Red Sea last year.
“The crew operated on the front lines, thwarting numerous attacks, and never gave up the fight,” Hill said.
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