THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 2, 1996 TAG: 9610010421
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: AT SEA
SOURCE: BY STEVE EATON
LENGTH: 57 lines
Last month the carrier Enterprise was in port at Rhodes, Greece, a charming island with beautiful beaches, medieval castles and a festive atmosphere.
The ship was scheduled to return to the Adriatic Sea to operate off the coast of Bosnia-Herzegovina in support of Operation ``Decisive Endeavor'' during the Sept. 14 elections there. We also were planning a port visit to Trieste, Italy.
I was scheduled to temporarily leave the ship to be the senior air wing representative at the 5th Allied Tactical Air Force Headquarters in Vicenza, Italy. It's the organization responsible for Bosnia air operations.
But tensions in Iraq resulted in me and three other air wing representatives being held in Rhodes until the ship's schedule was clarified.
It was not a great hardship.
After getting under way, we were told we'd be going to Vicenza that afternoon. Apparently things had calmed enough in Iraq that the ship would hold to its original schedule.
We arrived in Vicenza the following day and busied ourselves with the preparations for the ship's arrival in the Adriatic. .
When the work was finished, Vicenza, a beautiful little city nestled in the hills at the foot of the Alps in northeastern Italy, was waiting. The people were very friendly and the food was great. That was my second trip to Vicenza as the senior air wing rep and, of course, I told my wife, Cheryl, all about the city's charms.
I called home after we settled in and was surprised to learn she was coming the next day. I tried unsuccessfully to persuade her to stick to the original plan of visiting me in conjunction with a port visit to Trieste, but she was adamant and convinced something would happen to keep us from getting together if she did not come right away. As it turned out, her intuition was more accurate than my convictions. In any case, she came and we had some time together in this lovely town.
Within a week, the ship was called away to immediately sail to the Arabian Gulf. The reps and I were ordered to return to the ship promptly. In fact, the very next day, we were back aboard by mid-day, speeding south to the Red Sea. My wife was well taken care of and returned safely to Virginia Beach a day later.
The deployment quickly changed from being on schedule to urgently answering the president's call. This is what a forward-deployed battle group is all about - swift reaction to any order, bringing to bear a total strike force in any location. It is amazing to see firsthand the incredible rapid transit of an aircraft carrier and its battle group from one hot spot to another.
It seemed one day, I was making plans and covering ship's operations in the Adriatic Sea at the CAOC in Vicenza. Now, today we are in the Arabian Gulf with a deckload of strike airplanes and a mobile runway, flying missions and ready for further tasking. We hope that our presence here will promote peace and deter aggression. MEMO: Lt. Cmdr. Steve Eaton is a bombardier-navigator in the A-6E
Intruder assigned to Attack Squadron VA-75, homebased at Oceana Naval
Air Station in Virginia Beach. by CNB