Back From War on Terror

The Carl Vinson, the first U.S. aircraft carrier to wage war on the Al Qaeda terrorist network and its Taliban partners, arrived here Saturday to a hero’s welcome and the strains of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.”

“We were the right hand of America to get the job done,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Juan Pineda, 22, of Seattle.

“It feels good,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Bridgette Shryock, 23, of Chicago. “My parents are proud.”

The tale of the Vinson’s role in the war in Afghanistan is in the numbers: 4,200 combat sorties, 2 million pounds of ordnance dropped, 16,152 launches and retrievals of aircraft, 111 days of operations, and only four “down” days for maintenance of its 70-plus warplanes.

Other carriers have also played key roles-Theodore Roosevelt, Kitty Hawk, Enterprise and John C. Stennis--but none can claim the numbers of the Vinson or the designation of having launched the first airstrikes in the opening U.S. salvo of the war on Oct. 7.

The Vinson was in the first weeks of a planned six-month deployment enforcing the “no-fly” zone in Iraq when terrorists struck the U.S. on Sept. 11. By Oct. 7, the carrier and several of its supporting ships were within striking distance of Afghanistan.

“We were there when everybody else was trying to get there,” said Command Master Chief Mike Williams, 42, of Lawrence, Mass.

By any measure, the war numbers are impressive-18 million gallons of jet fuel used, 1,421 briefings by meteorologists about weather conditions, 37 underway replenishment operations (no time to go to port for more bombs or beans), and no major injuries or aircraft accidents.

The truism about an aircraft carrier is that it’s a floating city, and there are numbers to support that: 1.4 million e-mails sent by sailors, 2.1 million e-mails received by sailors, 53 surgeries performed by the ship’s doctors, 535 pairs of glasses made by the optometrists and 839 teeth pulled by the dentists.

There is another number, too: 76, the number of babies born to the wives of crew members while the ship was gone.

As the Vinson docked at North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado, fathers with babies they had not yet seen were given priority in the lengthy process of disembarking 5,000 sailors and several hundred visitors.

And so Michael Floyd, 24, who repairs electrical systems on the warplanes, was able to rush to meet his wife, Jennifer, 19, and hold their month-old son, Michael Sean, for the first time.

“I’m so glad I was able to be part of what the Vinson did,” said Floyd, cradling the infant. “Maybe we made the world a little bit safer for my son.”

After being relieved by the Stennis on Dec. 16, the Vinson made port visits in Singapore and then Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where several hundred family members joined for the ride to San Diego. After unloading aircraft equipment and more than 1,000 sailors, the ship will leave today for Bremerton, Wash., its home port.

As the carrier rounded Point Loma, an eerie calm prevailed. The flight deck, normally crowded with aircraft and the deafening roar of their engines, was quiet. The aircraft-from Whidbey Island, Wash.; Oceana, Va.; Lemoore Naval Air Station in Central California; North Island; and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego-had departed Thursday and Friday.

“We serve the country, that’s what we do,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Marlon Deguzman, 23, of San Diego. Just as he said it, the skyline of the Navy’s West Coast home came into view, prompting shouts and whoops of excitement from the 1,500 sailors assigned to man the rails.

But even amid the joy, there was talk that the war is not yet over. Senior officials have warned that military action may be needed in other countries to root out Al Qaeda and its protectors and sympathizers.

“I just hope we get to be there when Al Qaeda is dismantled,” said Command Master Chief Odie Cook, 43, of Tucson. “We were there at the beginning, we should be there at the end.”