EVERETT — At a big birthday blowout for the 10th anniversary of Naval Station Everett, talk of war was the inescapable intruder.
More than 400 people packed the Everett Events Center for a luncheon Thursday to mark the first double-digit birthday for the base. But while state and local leaders sang the praises of the Navy’s most modern facility, references to the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan became the backbeat.
It hit a crescendo during the keynote speech by Dionel Aviles, assistant secretary of the Navy for financial management.
Aviles, who has been nominated by President Bush for undersecretary of the Navy, asked the audience to keep America’s military in its thoughts and prayers.
The war in Iraq has intensified in recent days, with more than 30 Americans killed since Sunday.
"At some point today … on your way home, or when you get home … take a moment of quiet reflection for all the soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen and Coast Guardsmen who we currently have deployed," Aviles said. "Some of them, as we speak, are seeing some very heavy action in Iraq and Afghanistan."
America must fight terrorists on their turf. And fighting terrorism will take time, he said.
"Defeating global terrorism will be the challenge of our generation. And most likely, our children’s," he said.
"It’s not a war that’s going to be won quickly or easily, but it must and it will be won," Aviles said. "It is a test of our national will and character, whether this will be a century of freedom or fear."
Thousands of sailors from Naval Station Everett already have served in the Persian Gulf or come home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Aviles highlighted the part that Naval Station Everett and its ships have played: the 290-day deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, the eight-month deployments of the frigates USS Rodney M. Davis and USS Ingraham, and others who were called into the fight.
Despite the role that the base, its sailors and its ships have played in recent years, some uncertainty surrounds the future of Naval Station Everett.
While the base survived two previous base-closure rounds, the Pentagon will study Everett again as it considers closing up to 25 percent of the nation’s military bases in 2005.
Navy supporters have already mobilized to keep Naval Station Everett open. That gave Thursday’s birthday party an aura of part celebration, part pep rally.
Gov. Gary Locke, who proclaimed Thursday Naval Station Everett Day in Washington, had effusive praise for the base. He covered everything from the pier-side pizza snack bar and free laundry for sailors to the station’s earth-friendly construction.
Even so, there were lighter moments amid an afternoon devoted to honoring the base, which has more than 5,650 sailors and is Snohomish County’s second-largest employer.
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., recalled a recent walk home from the park with his 4-year-old son Per. His youngest son had been having trouble saying words that start with the letter F.
Until now, the congressman recounted.
"Freedom is easy!" his son said.
"What would an excited father whose son is learning to pronounce the language do?" Larsen asked.
"I turned to him and said, ‘No, it isn’t! Freedom isn’t easy! You’ve got to work for it! You’ve got to fight for it!’"
The crowd, filled with scores in uniform, from admirals to seamen, laughed and applauded heartily.
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
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