THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 18, 1995 TAG: 9512180068
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ABOARD THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER AMERICA LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Some of them are sold on the proposition that their patrols in the rolling, foggy Adriatic Sea are keeping the Serbs and Muslims and Croats ashore from going back to war.
But like their parents and sweethearts and congressmen back home, many of the 12,000 Americans afloat here and on nearby ships this Christmas season are uncertain and uneasy about whether they and the soldiers moving into Bosnia and Croatia can make a difference in the long conflict.
And they are wondering whether the loss of American lives that they expect will follow is worth it.
``It's easy to not think about it when you are busy,'' Mike Childers, a helicopter crewman from Jacksonville, Fla., said Sunday night. But in his off hours, like when a reporter found him eating a quiet Sunday dinner in one of the ship's messrooms, Childers wrestles with skepticism about what he and the rest of the Americans here are doing.
``It's ironic that it's all in the name of God,'' he said of the war between Bosnia's Muslims and Serbs. And because both sides are fighting in God's name, Childers wonders whether the military might of his ship, its battle group and the soldiers ashore can stop them.
``This is pre-election year grandstanding that has a possibility of blowing up in (President Clinton's) face,'' said Petty Officer Tony Johnson, an electrician. ``Or, he could come out smelling like a rose.''
A few feet away, Airman Jared Samek of Baton Rouge, La., was more confident. ``We're right where we need to be to assure the peace treaty is adhered to,'' he said.
The mission ``is valuable,'' agreed Marcel Salmon, a dental technician who lives in Virginia Beach. ``But I'd rather someone else be doing it.''
Deployed since the end of August, the America and much of the rest of its battle group have not had a port call since October.
They spent much of the fall in the Adriatic, launching bombing runs that Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Boorda told them Sunday helped force the Bosnian peace treaty; then they steamed through the Suez Canal and into the Persian Gulf last month, only to be called back to the Adriatic to support U.S. and other NATO ground troops enforcing peace.
The men - no women are serving on the America - are tired and ready to go home, several said Sunday. They understand why it was necessary to cancel a scheduled Christmas week port call in Marseille, France, but some still hope to get ashore in Trieste, Italy, after the holiday and rendezvous with family and girlfriends from the states.
Boorda, along with Master Chief Petty Officer John Hagan, the Navy's senior enlisted member, flew all night from Washington to thank the crew for its sacrifices and to deliver a pep talk on the mission. Boorda took a helicopter to the America, the amphibious ship Wasp and the cruiser Normandy Sunday; he plans to visit four more ships before flying home today.
In speeches Sunday, Boorda recalled his first visit to Sarajevo in 1992, when he was in command of all American forces in the area. A French general took him to a hospital where Boorda expected to visit U.N. troops wounded while trying to keep the peace.
Instead, ``we went downstairs'' to the morgue, Boorda recalled, where the first body he saw was that of a 6-year-old girl.
``It could have been my granddaughter, or your daughter, or niece,'' he told sailors and Marines aboard the Wasp.
``If you can have a little piece in ending that, your whole time in the Navy, your whole time in the Marine Corps, will have been time well spent,'' he said.
At each stop, Boorda invited sailors to gather around a makeshift platform and, in the style of a talk show host, fielded their questions about everything from the Bosnia mission to the Navy's troubles with sexual harassment and sexual misconduct, to personal problems with career advancement.
Some sailors, bold enough to step forward in front of their commanding officers and take their beefs directly to the top, got quick action.
John Frederico, an aviation machinist's mate, or ``AD'' in Navy shorthand, was among several sailors who told Boorda they're not sure where they'll be assigned after the 31-year-old America is decommissioned next summer.
``What do you want to do?'' the admiral asked.
``You want to be an AD on a carrier?
``In Norfolk?
``Done!'' Boorda said, directing the startled Frederico toward a group of Navy detailers along for the trip. Several hundred sailors, massed in the hangar deck, erupted in applause.
Boorda defended the Navy's handling of sexual harassment cases. He made a point of citing the charges that earlier this month forced the retirement - ``in disgrace'' as Boorda put it - of a two-star admiral assigned to a NATO command in Portugal.
Rear Adm. Ralph L. Tindal was ``fined $7,800 on Day One,'' Boorda said, after being found guilty of fraternization and harassment in a case stemming from an affair with an enlisted woman. ``And by stripping him of one of his stars in retirement, the Navy's discipline will cost Tindal roughly $9,000 each year for the rest of his life.''
``I think it sends one hell of a strong signal,'' Boorda said to applause from the America's crew. by CNB