Carrier that led war on terrorism back home

Associated Press

NORFOLK, Va. – Kinte Horton stepped off the USS Enterprise Saturday after nearly seven months at sea and greeted his 6-month-old son for the first time.

Zechariah was born two weeks after Horton and his 5,000 shipmates left in April aboard what became the first U.S. aircraft carrier to report for combat duty in the war on terrorism.

“Hello, Zech. Do you know who I am?” the 22-year-old petty officer from San Francisco said as he held his son for the first time.

“He’s beautiful. He looks like his mother,” Horton said. “I’ve been waiting for him for a long time.”

About 90 crew members who became fathers while they were at sea were among the first sailors allowed off the carrier after it docked Saturday at Norfolk Naval Station. The carrier’s involvement in the strikes against Afghanistan extended its deployment by two weeks.

“The biggest concern they have is, is my child going to know me? What do I do if my child cries when I pick him up?” said Pat Henderson, a counselor with Fleet &Family Support Centers. She assures new fathers that their children will adjust to them quickly.

Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” was heard from loudspeakers aboard the flattop – the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, commissioned in 1961 – as thousands of family and friends cheered from the windy pier.

The sailors, in their dress blues, manned the rails of the 1,123-foot ship, the Navy’s longest carrier. Some called loved ones waiting on the pier from their cell phones.

The crowd chanted “U.S.A., U.S.A.” and sang along with patriotic songs. Many waved American flags or carried red, white and blue carnations and balloons. Some held signs reading: “Welcome Home Daddy,” “We’re Proud of Our Boys” and even, “Are You Single?”

Kaira Peterson, 21, of Santa Cruz, Calif., wanted to make sure her husband, Airman Rudy Peterson, 21, would see her among the throngs. She dressed up in a Victorian-style white velvet gown with a bustle of red and blue tulle and lace.

“I couldn’t sleep last night,” she said. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, “I figured he wouldn’t get home until after Christmas.”

The carrier became a base for launching the earliest airstrikes against Afghanistan, with its planes dropping 862,000 pounds of munitions during two weeks in October.

“It really is a pleasure to be back in the land of the free,” Capt. James A. Winnefeld Jr., the Enterprise’s commanding officer, said. “We’ve missed our families, we’ve missed our country.”

Petty Officer 3rd Class Will Tabocol, 32, of Hilo, Hawaii, said he would put thoughts of Osama bin Laden and terrorism out of his mind for a while. His daughter, Kalea, was born two months ago.

“It’s great to be back home. I couldn’t wait. I’m going to do nothing for the next two weeks except play with my new baby,” he said.