THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 29, 1996 TAG: 9606290260
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY EARL SWIFT AND CHARLENE CASON, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 72 lines
Cmdr. Thomas F. Keeley was scanning the pier when he saw him: a sailor strolling toward the ship, his last McDonald's purchase for weeks in hand.
From the gangway he seemed a dungareed speck weaving slowly through the clots of wives and children, parents and friends gathered beside the aircraft carrier Enterprise.
Then, as the minutes ticked toward noon Friday, the sailor saw Keeley. He noticed the officer was staring at him. That a lot of the civilians on the pier seemed to be looking his way, too. And that a crane hovered over the gangway, ready to hoist it away from the ship.
He began to trot, sped to a run, and - as he reached the gangplank - to sprint.
Then, this last crewman aboard, the crane lifted the gangway and sailors cast off mooring lines.
And to shouted farewells, horn blasts and the strains of ``I'll Be Home For Christmas,'' the Enterprise backed into the Elizabeth River and turned to the open sea, beginning its first major deployment in more than five years.
Accompanied by smaller ships, the nuclear-powered carrier headed for the Mediterranean Sea until December, capping a lengthy overhaul billed as the Navy's most extensive ever.
Its departure ended a morning of tears, fierce hugs and lingering kisses on the pier and the ship's vast hangar deck, as families stole a last few minutes with uniformed husbands, boyfriends and fathers.
``This will be my seventh Med cruise, and it doesn't get any easier - it just gets tolerable,'' said Terry Loftesness, married 11 years to an aviation structural mechanic aboard the Big E.
``You tolerate it because it's his job, because you're proud of him, because this is what he does. The boat has to float.
``But it's going to be hard.''
Young couples entwined with tiny babies pressed between them. Other pairs wiped each others' faces. Children sobbed.
Around them, sailors raced to complete last-minute chores, emptying trash containers, loading equipment, wheeling barrels into corners.
More than 2,000 civilians came aboard to wish fair winds to the crew before visitors were ordered to shore at 10 a.m., Command Master Chief Robert Hallstein said.
``This is tough,'' he said. ``But a lot of things are different in the Navy today, and they're different for the good.
``It used to be that if you were married to a sailor, when his ship left you were on your own. Now we have family support groups, we have ombudsmen, we have a lot more support for the families.''
The carrier battle group's commander, Adm. Martin J. Mayer, stopped by a table staffed by ombudsmen, Navy wives who volunteer to help other spouses get through deployments.
``We'll all come back safe and sound,'' he told them. ``You take care of yourselves. And I don't have to tell you this, but letters are always welcome.''
The Enterprise was expected to remain off the Virginia Capes at least through today, as its complement of fighters and bombers tailhook onto its 4.4-acre deck. After that, it will rendezvous with other ships of its battle group for the trip across the Atlantic.
``We'll turn left, and we're on our way,'' Hallstein said. ``That's when it hits.
``That's when the crew stops hearing the planes coming aboard. When we're doing flight ops, everybody's too busy to think, but once those planes stop coming, the realization sets in - hey, we're gone.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by CANDICE C. CUSIC, The Virginian-Pilot
Agina Strange of Norfolk, left, her 3 1/2-year-old son, Chris, and
her mother, Gloria Daniels, wait Friday as the Enterprise prepares
to cast off. Strange's husband, Chris, is an E3 airman on board the
ship. Agina is pregnant, and due Sept. 8.
KEYWORDS: ENTERPRISE BATTLE GROUP by CNB