The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
Friday was a day Kylie Civiello hoped wouldn't come.
After months of false alarms, her husband, Travis, had learned a week earlier that he would finally be deploying with the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman. When he told Kylie the news, it took her a little while to accept that this time, it was real.
"I kind of started to think it wasn't ever going to happen," she said Friday morning, standing on a pier at Norfolk Naval Station with her 15-month-old son. "Now that it's here, I'm feeling pretty scared. It's his first deployment, and six months is a long time to be alone."
Kylie said she's glad all the delays gave her husband extra time at home in Virginia Beach with their first child, Cole. If the Truman had deployed last fall as originally planned, Travis, an aircraft mechanic, would have missed his son's first Christmas, his first birthday and his first steps.
But on Friday, the buildup only made the goodbyes harder. "It's a rough day," Kylie said.
She was far from the only one feeling that way. Hundreds of people gathered for the Truman's departure to see off husbands, boyfriends, fathers and mothers. Many were in tears.
"I didn't think it would be this bad," said Tiffany Taylor, who came to say goodbye to her new husband, a seaman named Christian. Sitting pierside on a bench as the Truman prepared to lift anchor, Christian stroked Tiffany's hair and held her hand as she cried. "It'll be OK," he said.
Roughly 6,000 sailors left with the Truman strike group. The carrier was the last ship in the group to pull away from the shore, around noon. Accompanying the Truman on deployment are three guided-missile destroyers - the Winston S. Churchill, the Oscar Austin and the Ross - and a guided-missile cruiser, the Normandy.
A German frigate, the Hessen, and Carrier Air Wing 3 are also traveling with the strike group.
The Truman had been expected to deploy last October. But in September, after a series of schedule changes and maintenance delays aboard other carriers, the Navy announced the carrier would have to wait. The strike group has spent the past several months working to stay trained and ready to go.
Its sailors are scheduled to spend at least six months at sea, mostly in the Middle East, Persian Gulf and northern Africa. They'll likely support ground troops operating in Afghanistan.
"We've been at the start line for a few months now," said Capt. Joseph Clarkson, the Truman's commanding officer. "I know it's been difficult for a lot of our sailors and the families, but I think we're better for it. We're incredibly prepared - definitely ready to go."
Just before the carrier's departure, dozens of sailors stood on deck talking on their cell phones, trying to squeeze in last-minute goodbyes before losing reception at sea. Among them was Frank Canada, a petty officer second class and father of three from Chesapeake.
"This is my fourth deployment," he said. "It doesn't really get easier. You never want to leave your family, but it's part of the job.
"I'm just hoping we'll be home by Christmas."
Corinne Reilly, (757) 446-2949, corinne.reilly@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
whinning about which branch is gone longer.
people keep talking about how sad, and so on when it comes to the us navy, well it is sad when they are gone for a period of time. when people marry into the navy, they did take on that responsibility of the seaman being gone for 6mo. to etc. I am ashamed to even read about how marines and army have to do this and that and navy has it so well off. well people pick what branch they go to. My Grandfather would be ashamed of all of this due to him being POW of 3 years (in the old navy), and I am disappointed with these comments because I see these young adults doing the first cruise and their young spouses have never been alone, they have gone from mom and dads house to there husbands and children. I have done 5 deployments and not a one was easy. So please cut us navy spouses a break..
You go USS Truman, come back to us safe and sound....
Wow
I understand that the Navy of 2010 is different than the Navy of 10+ years ago. We don't have to wait for a letter in the mail. We can, on very seldom occasions, receive phone calls. Our sailors can look at pictures of their families minutes after we snap them. We don't deploy for a year at a time. And, generally, we can sleep safely knowing that our service members rest safely on the boat (however, we know that there are very real hazards--for our pilots, the flight deck crew, and let's not forget about the Cole). But please don't belittle the feelings of separation, anxiety, fear, loss and sadness that these service members and their families have. Every generation has it a bit better than the one before--at least so we like to claim. Surely in 20 years these men and women could complain about how much harder they had it. Let's face it-- any time away from family is difficult. Just because we know what "we're getting ourselves into" doesn't mean the families need to be stoic all the time. Deployments are difficult--any military branch, any decade. Just be supportive.
Yeah, wow is right
Because your not getting the point at all. They got an extra 7 months in the states, and their wining about it. In my day, or yours more than one ships crew, more than one Army or Marine unit would consider it striking gold to be delayed 7 months and be able to spend it in the states with their families. Citing the hazards of carrier ops is misleading. No one is planting IEDs on the flight deck. And the Cole is a red herring because around 3,000 people right here in the USA died on September 11 2001. In 20 years time, it's likely the US Navy will once again face a serious naval threat from a world power as it did in my day. They may well have to deal with longer deployments than now, long suspensions of email service out of operational restrictions and likely someone actually shooting at them at sea with heavy weapons and 2 or 3 month turn around between deployment. Those sailors will probably be looking at those of today and saying, boy were you lucky.
Agreed.. too much whining
This story just made me chuckle for a few seconds. I did my first Med in May 89. Was lucky enough to be home by Christmas 89. Then several months in the yards in Metro Machine. Not deploying, again very lucky. But, then August 2 of 1990, Saddam invaded Kuwait. We left within 72 hours and did not return home until April of 1991. Thanksgiving, Christmas, 21st birthday all spent at sea. In fact, only a total of 15 days tied to a pier the entire 8 months. And, I was on an LPD, not a CVN. One month later, the Admiral himself paid a surprise visit to the ship to inform us we had won a free cruise to the Med and would be deploying that August, to return in February of 1992. And to read these kids are crying and balling because they got to hang around the States an extra 7 months. And, how stressful that was.. you have got to be kidding me. If that's as tough as the Navy is today, then the next real naval battle the Navy fights, they're gonna get their clock cleaned. And, I agree with all the points about the Army and Marines deploying. Those people are on the real front line, not tucked away high and dry on a super carrier. Getting 3 cooked meals a day, every day. Emailing at will, or usi
Shame on you. The military
Shame on you. The military is hard... it is hard to be a part or and it is hard to be married to someone who is a part of it. If my husband is gone for 3 weeks, 3 months, or 3 years I miss him, and I hate that he goes. Yes, I did know what I was signing up for, but that doesn't make it easier when he leaves, and misses so much. It is even harder when they kids cry for him. The snarky, hateful comments left here make me ashamed to be a military spouse. These are the reason why we all have such a bad reputation.
Hurry home safe guys. You are all missed.
ok, really
yes, we know other services "have it worse"... yes we know "back in my day" they were gone longer/with no email/no phone/no anything....but today is still difficult for us families left back on the beach. Tomorrow we'll get up and get on with life, but jeez-can we just have one day to be a little sad. Saying goodbye to anyone you love is rough, whether they're on the ground or at sea, there are no guarantees. Give 'em hell, Truman.
after..
Deploying with the army in Bosnia and then getting job where I deployed with the navy on an aircraft carrier, the navy guys have it much easier. The sailors always had a hot rack to go to and hot meals each time. Let them eat MRE's for two meals a day and see what happens. My husband is once again gone. The running joke that we have is that I will slow down the car long enough for him to get out and then he calls when he is walking off the ship and I will slow down long enough for him to get in the car.
deployment
They will be missed. As for six months, it's more like 8 months. And I do agree that these sailors all complain about deployments, and I can understand it's hard being away from your spouses and kids and missing bithdays and holidays, but how many troops from other branches of the military are spending a year or more in Iraq and Afghanistan with no change of sceenery? At least with the navy, you hit ports in other countries. And also, when you signed your name on that piece of paper to enlist in the Navy, who I'm sure you knew had big gray things called ships that float in the water and are not built to stay tied up to a pier and never move, or just take out for a Sunday spin, didn't you realize that you would be required to deploy for days, weeks and months on end?
Have to agree with you!
Quite frankly, I'm tired of reading about the tears of those watching members of their family depart on a SHIP for six months with various ports being visited in several instances. Very little, if anything, is written about members of the army, marine families who will ACTUALLY be in harms way for a year OR more. Thanks to all for serving in the military, but let's stop the articles about the tears of those sailor's families who are meeting the obligation they volunteered for....please!! Based on the comments thus far, several feel the same.
deployment of the Navy
Us old timers find it very difficult to hear the younger generation whine all the time about the "six" months out to sea...I guess we spoiled this generation a whole lot more than we thought.
Our husbands went out to sea for 9 months at a time, and we did not have email, phones, or any contact for at least the first three months they were gone, because that is how long it took for the first "letter" to get to us. Some days they got 10 letters from wives who wrote every day and then they would not hear a word for weeks.
Our husbands missed a lot more than Christmas and birthdays, their were children born, hospitalized with traumatic illnesses and injuries and no way to tell them,,, oh Red Cross if they thought they should be told, "it might be too upsetting"
My husband was gone a total of 302 days in one year, three months out, 2 or 3 days in, six months gone,, a week in. Talk about forgetting, we forgot to ask them the trash was full, forgot to say it was dinner time, sometimes even forgot to make dinner. we were more used to them gone than at home.
You married a sailor,,, his job did not just pop up, When you married him, you knew he would be going out to sea. It is r