USS Abraham Lincoln will be a scarce sight in Everett

EVERETT -- Sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are preparing to leave.

Again.

Shore life is ending for now. Bags are packed. Supplies are loaded in. Equipment maintenance is nearly complete.

Some of their families have already moved in with relatives in other states to wait out the long deployment that begins Tuesday.

The impending departure makes it feel even more like autumn in Everett. There's a change in the air.

This will be one of the final deployments the aircraft carrier makes from its homeport of Naval Station Everett before the Lincoln sails to a Norfolk, Va., shipyard for the midlife refueling of its two nuclear reactors. The carrier was commissioned in 1989.

The tentative schedule calls for the Lincoln to head that direction in late 2011, with the three-year refueling job to commence in 2013. The Navy has not decided whether the giant nuclear-powered warship will return, or if Everett will see another aircraft carrier in the interim.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Rick Larsen, both Washington Democrats, sent a letter last month to the Secretary of the Navy and the chief of Naval Operations urging them to station another aircraft carrier at Naval Station Everett after the Lincoln leaves for refueling. The letter stressed the strategic military advantages of docking a carrier in Everett.

Murray said she plans to continue trying to persuade the Navy about the importance of replacing the Lincoln when it leaves Everett next year.

"And I am going to continue reminding them about the great job the local community has done to support the Navy and make sure the sailors and their families feel at home," Murray said.

That's a job Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson is continuing as well.

Stephanson visited the Pentagon in April to lobby Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughhead.

Not only does Stephanson want to see an interim replacement aircraft carrier in Port Gardner, he wants the Lincoln back here after its refueling -- and he'd like a second carrier stationed here as well.

"I know this is a warship, but I always feel a little more positive when I look out and see the USS Abraham Lincoln," he said. "I never take it for granted, and I always appreciate it. I want the Lincoln based here for the foreseeable future."

Stephanson said he is pushing for a decision on a replacement for the Lincoln by early next year. Local Navy officials understand, but the Pentagon has a lot more to think about, he said he was told.

"Naval Station Everett has many advantages, such as a modern facility, the deep-water port and easy access to the ocean," Stephanson said. "And clearly, the boost to our local economy is huge. A gap of three or four years would have significant impact on us."

With an annual payroll of $230 million, Naval Station Everett is Snohomish County's second-largest employer, right behind Boeing.

When the Lincoln pulls out at the end of 2011, half of the personnel at the naval station -- about 3,000 sailors -- leave, too.

"Smaller ships won't replace the advantage to this community, and that's why we're advocating so hard," Stephanson said.

There are no guarantees, and the Navy must decide what to do based on the world situation, said Pat McClain, the city of Everett's executive director for governmental affairs.

The Lincoln has been the centerpiece of Naval Station Everett and has become an icon, synonymous with the city itself, McClain said.

And it's not just the Silvertips mascot, Lincoln the bear, whose hockey jersey number is "72," the ship's hull number.

The effort by organizations such as the Navy League helped weave military families into the community, he said.

"Naval Station Everett is a place that many sailors request to be assigned," McClain said. "And the Lincoln has done Everett proud."

The community support when the Lincoln returned home in the early part of war in Iraq cemented its place here, he said.

National news broadcaster Tom Brokaw called the homecoming crowd of 30,000 people the biggest welcome of its kind since World War II, McClain said.

Sailors are truly supported in Everett, said Kristin Ching, spokeswoman for the naval base.

"This community is really involved and the Navy families feel it," Ching said. "Everett is much more involved than other places and the sailors know it."

For Navy Ensign Robyn Gerstenslager, 30, this next trip overseas with the Lincoln means giving up her dog and knowing her houseplants will die. It means questions from her mother about the date of the Lincoln's return. Most deployments are six to eight months long, but the answer is something that even Gerstenslager, as a public affairs-media relations officer, can't give.

"She doesn't fully understand the unplanned schedule changes. I can't e-mail or call every day," Gerstenslager said. "It really upsets her. If I was a mom or a wife of a sailor, I would feel that way, too."

Last week, Gerstenslager's department unloaded nine pallets stacked high with paper for the trip.

"We're the Kinko's on board," she said.

Gerstenslager and her colleagues produce and print a weekly newsletter called the Penny Press. They maintain a Facebook page and the Lincoln's website. They are the sailors who meet with the foreign press when the ship makes a port call.

"We take these port-of-call visits seriously. In leadership training it is impressed upon you that we are representing all Americans, the Navy and the ship. As some say, liberty is a mission," Gerstenslager said. "I am excited to see different parts of the world. We always have a humanitarian or community relations element to these visits."

Located on the third deck, one below the mess decks and two below the vast hangar bay, Gerstenslager's office is jammed with 20 computers loaded with the latest in photo- and video-editing software, and four large copy machines.

As big as the carrier is, the people on board move in and out of just a few spaces each day. For Gerstenslager, one of about 300 women on board, that means her state room, the dining room, her office and the gym, where she runs on a treadmill that rocks with the motion of the ship.

"So it gets small, especially when we get the air crews on board and the Lincoln becomes a floating city of 5,000 people," she said. "If you don't make the effort to get outside, get some air and daylight, you could go crazy."

One popular place to go is Vultures Row, a small deck located just above the number 72 on the ship's tower. From there, sailors can watch the activity on the flight deck below.

"It's an awesome view and always packed with people," she said.

For Gerstenslager, the best place to catch a break is on the fantail of the ship where she sits and stares at the water.

After graduating from James Madison University in Virginia with a degree in journalism, Gerstenslager hoped to work on some smaller newspapers. Her dream was to work as a reporter at the Washington Post in the nation's capital.

She couldn't find a newspaper job, so at age 25 she headed off to boot camp. Gerstenslager was commissioned as an officer in May.

"When I am done with my time in the Navy I will have seven years of very relevant experience that I can use in the civilian sector. I don't think there is a job in the Navy that you couldn't say that about."

When she does move on, Gerstenslager said she will miss the Lincoln and Everett.

"It's a great city and when we return to Everett after being out to sea for several weeks, it really does feel like we're coming home," she said.

For Chief Petty Officer Jarred Haynes, the next deployment for the Lincoln means leaving his family behind in Marysville for another cold, rainy Northwest winter. The people in Snohomish County are great, but his wife and daughters much prefer the climes of the southern United States.

Haynes, 32, is an air traffic controller from Louisiana.

He joined the Navy in 1999 after playing basketball for Nicholls State University and in the semi-pros in Australia. A guard, Haynes most recently did a stint with the Snohomish County Explosion basketball team.

For Haynes, the Navy meant a needed change in his life and the chance to have a family. He's been with the Lincoln since 2007, and while at sea sits below deck in front of a radar scope.

His job as an air traffic controller is easy, he said, compared to the separation from his family.

He and his wife Amanda have been married 10 years. Their daughters are Madyson, 9, and Payton, 5. The community has been good to them.

"Amanda has a good job here, and the girls are in school," he said. "But we are looking forward to some shore duty in Texas next year."

Leaving for overseas is difficult. This is Haynes' fourth deployment.

"The youngest one is a little angry. She says, 'See you later' and moves on," he said. "The older one takes it much harder. We're very attached to each other. She says, 'Be safe and come back.' My wife is the rock of our family, but sometimes she breaks down, too."

The challenge on the ship is to deal with the stress of separation without it affecting anything else, Haynes said. On board he reads to his girls over the phone and makes videotapes for them.

When the Lincoln sails away this month, the Haynes family will just drop him off at the base and drive away.

"It's a lot easier that way. Some families don't even drop off," he said. "We all do it differently when it's time to say goodbye."