Last elements of Task Force East return home

[thedrifter]

June 30, 2003

Last elements of Task Force East return home

By Bob Jordan
Associated Press


CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. ? Families and friends greeted troops with tears and cheers Saturday as the last wave of Marines from Task Force Tarawa returned to their home base from Iraq.
?I?m super blessed,? said Gunnery Sgt. Bryant Davis, 36, of Atlanta, who let out three ?Wooos!? after embracing his young nieces outside Camp Lejeune?s barracks.

Davis was one of 2,000 Marines aboard the amphibious assault ship Kearsarge, the last of the seven-ship Amphibious Task Force East that arrived on the North Carolina coast this past week.

?It?s a beautiful day to come to the United States of America,? said Davis, an 18-year Marine veteran.

Troops from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, which saw heavy fighting and 23 members die during the war, began arriving in stages at Camp Lejeune and neighboring bases a week ago. A total of 7,000 ground troops and aviators were expected to be home by Sunday.

Marines came ashore on landing crafts as the sun rose Saturday. Awaiting families at the pier held children, signs and mementos of their returning Marines.

The parents of Lance Cpl. Michael Thompson carried a sign with the signature of first- and second-graders at St. Luke?s Lutheran School in Culpeper, Va., where Thompson?s mother, Andrea, teaches.

?We are relieved to have him home,? Andrea Thompson said. ?It?s been an emotional roller coaster.?

The Virginia-based flotilla carried about 5,000 sailors, more than 7,000 Lejeune-based Marines and tons of heavy equipment and aircraft during service in the Middle East. The Kearsarge is due back at its home port in Norfolk, Va., on Monday.

While in Iraq, brigade members helped rescue Army Pvt. Jessica Lynch and captured 1,000 prisoners of war. They also helped liberate the cities of Nasiriyah, Amarah, Diwaniyah and Kut. Fifty-eight brigade members were wounded.

?We can?t forget the ones who didn?t make it home,? Andrea Thompson said.

Over half of Camp Lejeune?s 30,000 troops were overseas in Iraq and other stations this winter and spring. About 2,300 members of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit returned a month ago.

Brenda Echterling, 44, of LaGrange, Ind., worried her son, Lance Cpl. David Echterling, would be delayed further when the Kearsarge was ordered to travel to Liberia to evacuate U.S. citizens after civil war broke out there. But the Kearsarge was ordered home again after a cease-fire agreement was signed in Liberia earlier this month.

Brenda Echterling said: ?I started crying when I found out his ship had been diverted to Liberia, but it?s OK now. He?s home.?

Melissa D?Orta cried tears of joy as her husband, Staff Sgt. Jeramie D?Orta of Orange County, Va., approached her with daughter Nicole, and son, Vincent, already in his arms.

?I?m home, baby, I?m home,? the sergeant said. ?It?s all right.?

His wife said later: ?It?s just wonderful.?





Staff Sgt. Jeramie D'Orta, 29, of Orange County, Va., a member of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, is reunited with his daughter Nicole, 5, left, and son Vincent, 10, right, at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Saturday. ? Bob Jordan / AP


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press

Sempers,

Roger

[thedrifter]

Spica and Kearsarge return to Norfolk today

By JACK DORSEY, The Virginian-Pilot
? June 30, 2003

Crew members of the Military Sealift Command sometimes call themselves the ``invisible fleet'' because no one seems to pay them much attention.

But the 120 civilian mariners and 29 Navy personnel aboard the Spica, a combat stores ship, will be very visible today when they return to Norfolk from an eight-month, 53,000-mile deployment to the Mediterranean Sea.

The Spica, a 523-foot, 9,000-ton replenishment ship, is coming back in the shadows of the larger amphibious assault ship Kearsarge, which is carrying 1,200 sailors home from the Persian Gulf.

Both ships are scheduled to dock at the Norfolk Naval Station.

Because the Spica is crewed mainly by merchant mariners and belongs to the Military Sealift Command, its activities are not as high profile as those of Navy-manned ships.

The Military Sealift Command operates about 120 ships worldwide, with roughly 100 more ships in reserve status. MSC ships are crewed by civil service or contract merchant mariners instead of active-duty Navy personnel. Using civilian crews frees active-duty sailors for more traditional war-fighting assignments.

But, as Cmdr. James L. Shields says, ``the invisible fleet always appreciates a little publicity,'' particularly for this deployment. Commanded by the ship's master, Capt. Gregory Horner, and Shields, the military detachment officer in charge, the Spica has been kept busy during its November-to-June deployment.

From November to January, it completed 19 replenishments, moving more than 2,800 pallets of materiel and transferring 257,000 gallons of fuel as the sole combat stores ship in the Mediterranean.

The Spica conducted two replenishments of the carrier George Washington, then raced across the Med to resupply the carrier Harry S. Truman strike group when it arrived. Before being joined by its sister ship, the Saturn, the Spica also supported the seven ships of Amphibious Task Force East during their mission to the Persian Gulf.

Lt. Cmdr. Michael Moore, Spica's assistant officer in charge, contrasted the ship's current activity to its previous deployment, when it moved 13,300 pallets of materiel during a seven-month deployment.

``Since our load out in October 2002, Spica has moved more than 19,900 pallets of materiel from November to May,'' he said. ``That is the equivalent of more than 83 tractor trailers per month.

``In one 96-hour period, we delivered more than 1,200 pallets of materiel.''

In its latest deployment, the Spica coordinated logistics support for an average of 30 customers monthly and processed almost 20,000 requisitions in one 90-day period.

Routinely steaming from Souda Bay to the eastern Med and back for resupply, the Spica crew worked from January to June without a day off and has been widely acknowledged as the ``go-to'' ship in the theater, Shields said.

``Aircraft carriers and other warships get the glory and that's the way it should be,'' Shields said. ``But never forget it's the combat stores ships and oilers that allow them to stay on station. The carrier doesn't leave home without the ships of the combat logistics force.''

Reach Jack Dorsey at jdorsey@pilotonline.com or 446-2284.


http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories...223&ran=200748


Sempers,

Roger