At Ease, Finally

ABOARD THE USS PELELIU, midway from Hawaii to San Diego--The helicopters and jets in the hangar bay of this amphibious assault ship have been repositioned to make room for the ship’s band, Midwatch.

The band belts out the Carlos Santana anthem “Black Magic Woman,” followed by Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.,” while the children of sailors and Marines get their faces painted in the camouflage pattern of Force Recon, the Marines’ special operations troops. And for this trip, the stench of jet fuel has been replaced by the aroma of fresh popcorn.

The Peleliu--and its two smaller companion ships, the Dubuque and the Comstock--are headed home to San Diego after six months at sea, much of it acting as the “tip of the spear” in the U.S. war on terrorism. Several hundred family members of the 4,000 men and women of the Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group were allowed to board the three ships in Hawaii for the journey’s final seven days. But not spouses, girlfriends or boyfriends. War or peace, the Peleliu is a war ship, not the Love Boat--no conjugal visits allowed.

Marines from the Peleliu group--the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton--were the first conventional U.S. forces in Afghanistan, with 1,500 troops establishing a base Nov. 25 at a deserted Taliban facility dubbed Camp Rhino and then pushing on to the war-torn Kandahar Airport.

Sea Knight and Super Stallion helicopters from the Peleliu ferried troops and supplies throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Harrier jets flew combat missions in support of U.S. and Afghan opposition forces. The Peleliu brig housed American John Walker Lindh and several other Taliban and Al Qaeda members for several weeks before they were transferred.

“We did whatever needed doing for America,” said Sgt. Warren Ford, 25, of Philadelphia, a communications technician who doubled as a brig guard.

And their efforts were appreciated. On this day, a message from Army Gen. Tommy Franks, head of the U.S. Central Command in Afghanistan, is posted on bulletin boards throughout the ship. In it, he congratulates the Peleliu group on a job well done, saying they had “struck the first blow in what will be a long and arduous campaign against terrorism.”

When the ship was deployed in the Arabian Sea its flight deck bristled with the movement of combat Marines being sent ashore and air strikes being launched. But that’s in the past, and the order of the day now is relaxation; the job of maintaining the ship continues but at a less frenetic pace. There is still busy work to get done, inventories and reports and evaluations to complete, but, for most, there is plenty of free time.

“This is Lt. Pitts, your bingo officer,” blares a voice on the ship’s public address system. “Bingo starts at 1930 (7:30 p.m.). Location to be announced. Stand by.” For the competitive minded, there are poker games, cribbage and, among younger naval officers, a cutthroat game of Cranium, a cross between Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly.

Touch football games break out on the flight deck near a group of sunbathers, and the computers are busy as Marines and sailors send e-mails home. And, of course, there is karaoke night. There is time now too for recreational reading: Tom Clancy, Dean Koontz and John Grisham are popular. Lance Cpl. Garrett Clapp, 23, from East Lansing, Mich., has been studying the swimsuit issue of Maxim magazine.

Not surprisingly, there is also considerable talk of the amorous possibilities when the ship reaches Camp Pendleton on Sunday and the 32rd Street Naval Base in San Diego on Monday.

Cpl. Jahti Manselle, 22, an ordnance technician with a Harrier squadron from Yuma, Ariz., plans to be married the week after his return. He’s considering Las Vegas, maybe at one of those chapels with the Elvis look-alikes. “I’m ready to go home and be done with all this for a while,” Manselle said.

Even as they look forward to fun and freedom, there exists a sense of uncertainty. After sailing from San Diego on Aug. 13 to begin a routine six-month deployment to the Arabian Sea and western Pacific, the Peleliu’s Marines and sailors were enjoying liberty in Australia on Sept. 11. Officers were dispatched to order everyone back to the ship immediately.

“We’ve heard that America has changed,” said Lt. (j.g.) Dan Punt, 24, of Santa Monica, a surface warfare officer. Being home “may seem weird at first.”

Some want to ease back into post-Sept. 11 America by visiting places that are familiar and unchanged. “I’m going to Disneyland and Universal Studios with 10 relatives,” said Lt. (j.g.) Christina Matos, 27, of Long Island. “First, I’m going to rest, then my mom and I are going shopping,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Tori Tassone, 22, of Richmond, Va.

Meanwhile, demonstrations are being held to show visiting family members, called Tigers (once the nickname for military kids, it has caught on for all relatives), the capabilities of the ship, its crew and its Marines. The Harrier demonstration and the Marine martial arts show--Semper Fu--were particularly popular. Ditto the showing of Disney’s “Pearl Harbor.”

Several hundred Marines flew home in advance of the ship, so there are some bunks available for guests. Otherwise, the Tigers are put up in the ship’s hospital, in officers’ staterooms, in the hangar bay--wherever there is room for a cot.

When up on the flight deck, the visitors are heavily supervised. “We’re very careful with our Tigers,” said Capt. Dennis DuBard, the ship’s skipper. “We don’t want to lose any overboard.” Guests are not allowed on deck at all if the wind is gusting too hard.

For 9-year-old Trey Atkinson of Homewood, Ala., the demonstration of the Harrier’s vertical liftoff was a big hit. “Those Harriers are really cool,” he said. “None of the kids back home have seen that.” Trey’s uncle is Staff Sgt. Brent Atkinson, who works in Intelligence.

Jessica Blomgren, 10, daughter of Petty Officer Boomer Blomgren of San Diego, seemed taken with the martial arts demonstration. But when asked what she liked best, she said it was simply seeing her dad. “I miss my dad so much, it’s so good to be with him finally.”

Terence Donigan, 57, a retired plumber from Syracuse, whose son is a Marine captain, wanted to see the ship’s boilers, normally off-limits for visits. Call it professional curiosity. He was not disappointed. “Very impressive boilers,” he said.

The trip home is not all fun and games. In anticipation of the celebrating that will commence after the group gets home, sailors and Marines get a lecture from Sgt. Rusty Burkett of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department about the evils of drunk driving. Burkett adds a cautionary note about Tijuana, a mecca for young service personnel because of its permissive rules about alcohol.

“I tell them, unless you lost something in Tijuana, there’s no reason for you to go down there,” Burkett said. “It’s a whole different country down there.”

There are also counselors on board to talk with the newly married who will soon discover the strain that a six-month separation can put on a marriage.

Although the war on terrorism was its highest priority, the Peleliu also provided dental, medical and construction aid in East Timor, Qatar and Djibouti on the Horn of Africa before beginning its mission in Afghanistan. “If you’re not going to engage when you deploy, you might as well stay home,” said Col. Thomas Waldhauser, commanding officer of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

War is a group activity, with each Marine or sailor required to coordinate actions with others. But returning home is a solitary thing, filled with individual yearnings.

“A lot of the other grunts are talking about hanging out and partying all night,” said Cpl. Jamie McDonald, 21, an infantry Marine from Cabot, Ark. “But, you know, all I want to do is go home and see my family. I never felt so homesick as I did in Afghanistan.”