THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 6, 1994 TAG: 9407060385
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY and DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Orders to head back to sea after six months away from home left some sailors disgruntled and sent families complaining to their congressmen.
But Capt. Charles C. ``Skip'' Buchanan, commodore of the Inchon ready group, sees the unscheduled departure as only a ``minor inconvenience.''
The 1,900 sailors aboard the four ships of the Inchon amphibious ready group had been home only 13 days when they were summoned to Haiti as the United States beefs up efforts to restore democracy there.
``Families, quite frankly, are taking this pretty hard,'' said Rep. Owen B. Pickett, a Democrat who represents Norfolk and Virginia Beach. ``When something like this happens, it is very upsetting.''
Rep. Norman Sisisky, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Portsmouth, agreed.
``Even if such rapid turnarounds have happened before, it certainly has the effect of thinning our forces,'' Sisisky said.
Normally, battle groups returning from half-yearlong deployments are given generous opportunities to take leave during the first two months the ships return to port.
Under current policy, the Navy has promised its sailors that they will not be sent on long deployments for a year after their return. A long deployment generally refers to a cruise lasting longer than 60 days.
Many of the Inchon's sailors were midway in their vacations last weekend when they were recalled for the unexpected deployment to Haiti.
Why them? Buchanan said they were the ones on call.
``We are a national asset. When called upon we respond,'' he said.
Still, morale was low among a group of crew members loading frozen food aboard the Inchon on Tuesday afternoon at Pier 12 of Norfolk Naval Station.
``My wife is mad as hell,'' said Petty Officer 3rd Class Chad Latour, a mess specialist who has been married a year and was recalled midway through a planned 15-day vacation.
``This is hard on her. She is working her job, too, and it just stresses her out.''
Latour said he realized his ship was on call and had to respond. And he acknowledged that the Navy's presence might do some good off the Haitian coast.
``It just makes you mad. Spending time with my wife seems more important.''
Pentagon officials said they sympathize.
``We understand and regret the disappointment of the families,'' said Dennis Boxx, deputy Pentagon spokesman.
But the Navy has no amphibious ready group just for contingencies. Military cuts are a problem but are not the reason for this quick turnaround, one Pentagon official said.
``That's not to say the forces aren't tight,'' he added. ``There aren't enough forces now to meet all the requests of the unified commanders. . . . The best we can do is balance the requests.''
Adm. Jeremy M. Boorda, chief of naval operations, sent the departing crews and their families a message saying the Navy recognizes their sacrifice and promising that ``we will all be working to get you back to homeport just as quickly as we can.'' He said the ships should be prepared for ``at least 30 days of operations,'' however.
``Having just returned home from a long deployment . . . you deserved time to take it a little easier and, of course, time with your families and loved ones,'' Boorda wrote.
Boorda began his term as the Navy's boss this spring by stressing the importance of limiting deployments to six months. ``In very unusual circumstances, more than six months is tolerable. But I'd like those to be so unusual that we don't have them while I'm the CNO,'' he said in an April interview.
KEYWORDS: HAITI by CNB