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USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN-71) comes home to Norfolk, Virginia! On
Tuesday, March 26, 2002, after what is the longest deployment at sea
without ever touching land/ports in the history of the Navy, USS TR
comes home having received the "E" award for the fleet, and
having served with great distinction in historic action. John
Gable |
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The USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN-71) has been awarded the Battle "E" Award for action overseas in the war on terrorism. We asked Rear Admiral Wick Parcells (USN - Retired), the first commanding officer of the carrier back in 1985, what the Battle "E" Award means. . . The Battle "E" award is coveted because it is awarded to only one ship in any given class as being the finest in the fleet. It is measured in many different ways, the most important of which is combat capability. There are also individual departmental awards for achieving the same proficiency. Every one of TR's departments also won their respective awards. A so-called "Clean Sweep". To put it simply, TR was determined to be the best in the fleet in every category measured. |
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From:
Lt. John Oliveira, USn
Hi everyone, We had our 4th "day-off" again last Sunday which was very nice as it was beer day. Once again we all got two beers. It was nice to relax on the flight deck, listen to some music and enjoy a few cold ones. The Jacksonville Jaguar cheerleaders, Jessica Simpson came by to provide some entertainment this week as well. That was very much appreciated by the crew and allowed all of us to just relax for a few hours. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff also paid us a visit on Friday. The packages keep coming from all over and I now find myself swamped with trying to keep up with correspondence. The media interest has died off a bit as the news has shifted to what is going on in country. The amount of support from the folks back home still amazes me to no end. The folks back in Southampton County are keeping full of snack food and cards. Clearly, you can tell by their gifts that I live in one of the largest peanut producing counties in the country. I love peanuts but I don't think I have ever eaten as many as I have in the last 95 days. My sister, June, sent me some Portuguese sausage, Linguicia and Chourico, yesterday which was a very nice gift as I miss that ethnic cooking quite a bit here. Right now I have it in the refrigerator up in the Captains galley for me to cook up this weekend. My friends in Winchester, MA continue to provide me with a huge amount of pictures of back home which are all over my office now. Hanukah as come and gone and Christmas is right around the corner. As much as we try to decorate and celebrate aboard it is never like being at home though we make the best of it. It is always a tough time of the year for those of us at the "tip of the spear." We know we have a mission to do and we are very committed to completing it. |
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Attached this is week is a picture of my staff and I just goofing off in the TV Studio. These young men and women who work for me are the greatest. They inspire me everyday and it is for them that I stay here. Having such wonderful people working for me makes my job all the more worthwhile. Morale is still good even though we have gone more than 95 days without setting foot on land. Still not sure of when we will. I would like to wish each of you a very happy, healthy, and safe holiday season. Thanks so much for all the cards, letters and packages that keep coming in. Your support is what keeps us going in these trying times. Cheers John |
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From: Lt. John
Oliveira Just a photo of the Capt, our Food Service and me having some Dunkin Donuts Coffee yesterday. Dunkin Donuts sent us 100 lbs of coffee. It was great. About 400-500 Sailors came down for coffee yesterday. A little touch of home especially for us New Englanders! |
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From:
Captain Richard J. O'Hanlon, USN, Commaning Officer, Hello all, I know it has been a while since I updated you but it has been busy out here as the ship continues to pound away at the remnants of the Taliban and the Afghani section of the Al Qaida network. The headlines pretty much speak for themselves. The relentless pressure provided by airpower destroyed their air defenses, command and control networks, supply lines and eroded their will to resist. There are still a number of hard liners that are holding out but the majority of these are non-Afghanis. We will continue to support the Northern Alliance ground forces and attack Al Qaida strongholds. We are making some great progress in the latter. More coalition partners are arriving daily. The amount of naval power headed this way is staggering. Great Britain, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, and Japan have ships here or they are enroute. Many more countries are pledging ground or air forces. This is truly an international fight. It is sad in way that it took the 9/11 tragedy to bring the world together like this. The men and women of my crew continue to amaze me. We have been at sea for 60 days. Of those 60 days, only two have been days off (days without conducting flight operations). Despite all the above, the crew gathers around me whenever I walk around and want to know how we are doing and if we are making a difference. They cheer with every bomb on target and our success spurs them on to greater accomplishments. I do a weekly talk show on the ship's TV system. |
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It is a chance for me to chat with the crew as they phone in to ask questions. Move over Larry King. As part of the show I roll a weekly "greatest hits" video. The best of the bombing from the last week. Very popular. Even the studio crew looks away from their cameras to study each hit. I emphasize that every mission we execute is a total team effort from the propulsion plant operators to the bomb assemblers to the administrative support personnel to the flight deck aircraft maintainers. |
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| We have had some fun though. Two weeks ago we paused for a "steel beach" picnic. We set up barbeques on the flight deck and cooked up steak, chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs. The morale and welfare division set up volleyball and basketball matches. We have these oversize tricycles that people race on the flight deck. There were golfers, fishers, bands and, for the first time on an aircraft carrier in quite a while, a swim call. The Air Department lowered one of the aircraft elevators to the hangar deck level and crewmembers were given the opportunity to jump the 26 feet from the elevator to the water. Two thousand people literally jumped ship. Not all at once, of course. Life boats in the water, safety swimmers, etc. We even had sharpshooters looking out for sharks (none were seen). There is another no fly tomorrow. We are using this as a maintenance day so there are no big events with one exception. Navy regulations say that if you are at sea for 45 consecutive days the captain can authorize a special ration of two cans of beer per crewmember. I guess I have to remind you that US Navy ships are dry i.e. no alcohol allowed except as noted above. So tonight as we recover the last aircraft we are going to serve pizza and BEER to the crew. It may seem like no big deal to most of you but this is huge out here. |
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In the biggest surprise of the cruise to date, several members of the NY Yankees phoned me after Game 7 as they were flying home. I spoke to Willie Randolph and Paul O'Neill. I was told that Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Joe Torre were standing by to talk but the connection was severed as Jeter was handed the phone. They sent along their best wishes and gratitude to the crew who were thrilled to hear that the Yankees took time out to think of us. We continue to fly 14 hours a day 7 days a week but the ship's activities don't end at the end of flight operations. We are constantly gathering intelligence, fixing aircraft and ship's equipment, preparing more of our 20,000 meals a day, navigating the ship to our next launch point. The list goes on. TR is literally the city that never sleeps. We train constantly to keep the crew ready to respond to any contingency and go to battle stations for drill often shoot our guns and train our missiles. We even impose simulated damage to provide training in firefighting and damage control. As many of you know the human spirit is an formidable force. It is the only fighting reserve the evildoers in Afghanistan have left. All of us on TR and throughout this coalition have spirit and resolve that exceeds any quantity the enemy ashore has. But, unlike our adversary, we have some really cool weaponry left with which to carry out our orders. The reason I started on this spirit angle was to segue into a discussion on keeping morale high on the ship; my primary job. The support we have received from our families back in Norfolk has been spectacular. We on TR are blessed to have such strong, devoted spouses. The ship has also received messages and pledges of support from many parts of the country. I thank you all deeply. A small gift from home whether it be in the form of a video, a CD, a snack pack, a card, a letter, an email or a photograph means more than you know. It makes the difference between a Sailor who can give a little more for the nth consecutive day and a Sailor who can not. We could not do our job without the unflagging support of our family, friends and the American people. To all, you have my gratitude. I have rambled on enough. There are some images of life on the ship at the bottom of this email. Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving. We are pulling all the stops out here for a spectacular turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Please stay in touch as our deployment progresses. Best
wishes, |
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From:
Oliveira, John LT (Spin), Public Affairs Officer Well we have been gone 57 days today. Haven't touched land yet. The only land any of us has seen has been either Egypt as we went through the canal or Afghanistan as we fly over it. I'm sure those of you who follow the news reports have seen that our hard work is starting to pay off as Taliban forces are fleeing all over the |
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country. This is not the end; we are in this for the long haul and will be victorius on all fronts. It is nice to see the fruits of our labors out here. There are days out here that seem to go on forever and yet I look back and it seems like the first 60 days have flown by. Fortunately I have been very busy out here and that does help the time go by faster. Reporters are still on the ship everyday from all over the world in addition to the numerous radio and TV interviews I do on a daily basis with agencies back home. I continue to be swamped by e-mails and letters from all over the country. This week I would like to say a special thanks to the folks at Barnes Methodist Church in Newsoms (the church Amy and I go to just down the road a piece from our house) for the tremendous outpouring of cards and birthday wishes. Thanks so much - it means a lot to me. Thanks to everyone who sent those messages. I am still amazed at how interested the folks back home are in what we are doing. It is great and makes each of us aboard TR confident that you are behind us. Not much to say this week but groundhog day again. I wish each of you a very happy Thanksgiving and keep us in your prayers for a safe return to our loved ones. Until
next week |
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