THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 11, 1994 TAG: 9410110282
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Most members of the George Washington joint task force, made up of 12,000 sailors and Marines aboard 15 ships and submarines, are remaining in the Mediterranean Sea while the carrier and two other ships sail around Iraq.
Anxious Navy families have been seeking information about the ships, but the Pentagon had not announced any additional moves Monday.
About 2,000 Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C., and 1,900 Norfolk-based sailors are in the Mediterranean aboard four amphibious ships. They are being led by the assault ship Guam and could be used against Iraq.
``We haven't heard anything,'' said an ombudsman for one of the amphibious ships, who asked not to be identified. ``I usually stay in touch with the ship, but we've lost contact in the past week. I have a lot of wives calling me and I don't have any answers.''
Rumors also have surfaced concerning the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower and whether Iraqi troop movements mean the carrier will sail for the Middle East before its scheduled six-month deployment begins Oct. 20 - the first deployment of a carrier with women as full-time crew members.
The Eisenhower is scheduled to relieve the George Washington.
``We've heard the rumors, too,'' said one Navy official. ``But we know of nothing official about Eisenhower getting under way early.''
There are questions among the families, too, about whether the George Washington will return as scheduled in mid-November, in time for Thanksgiving.
``We have been told by everybody . . . that they are working real hard to keep us on schedule to get us back home to Norfolk for our scheduled arrival date,'' Capt. Ralph H. Coon, the Washington's air wing commander, said in a phone interview from aboard the ship.
``World situations can change that, but right now we still shooting to be home when we are scheduled to be there.''
KEYWORDS: U.S. NAVY U.S. MARINE CORPS IRAQ
by CNB