Saturday, July 24, 2004

USS Enterprise returns from Summer Pulse 04 After two months away from home, the USS Enterprise returned to Norfolk yesterday.  The article (unfairly, IMO) talks about a subdued reception and how there wasn't the usual pomp and circumstance attached with a ship returning from detachment.  While two months away from home is a fair bit of time, it is nothing like six plus months.  It's understandable that there weren't mobs of families waiting on the pier.  It would have been more appropriate to lead with their accomplishments The Enterprise completed three major exercises during Summer Pulse. The first joined up with a NATO training exercise known as Neo Tapon that tested allied surface warfare, air warfare and strike mission capabilities. The second exercise, the Joint Maritime Course, was sponsored by the United Kingdom and allowed the Enterprise to work again with NATO. The last exercise brought allied forces from Morocco, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom together, totaling some 20,000 personnel and 30 ships. Bravo Zulu and welcome home, shipmates. The Truman returns from her short excursion for Summer Pule on Sunday.  On Monday, the George Washington returns from a six month deployment. Military comment []4:43:23 PM   trackback []