Sailors deck the Shoup

Some day, he will be there when his son opens his presents on Christmas morning.

Not this year, though, said Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Terrance Wright. Wright is one of the sailors aboard the USS Shoup who has to work Christmas Day.

"We still have to work, do our same, ordinary tasks," Wright said. "The outside world doesn’t affect what’s going on. It’s still a normal working day for us."

The guided missile destroyer returned to Naval Station Everett from its first-ever deployment Nov. 20. Even though the ship isn’t out to sea, some sailors know they won’t be home for the holidays.

Wright, a gunner’s mate who hands out weapons to sailors who have to stand the watch, has been in the Navy six years and has worked on five Christmasses. His son, Trevon, is 3 and just learned to tell folks that his father is in the Navy.

"I really want to spend one Christmas with him. Maybe next year," Wright said.

Serving in the military means moving some celebrations to a more convenient time.

Wright and others in his duty section will work until Friday morning. The sailor said he’ll then go on leave to Miami, and his family there has agreed to wait until he gets home to have Christmas.

Shoup sailors said Christmas will look a lot like other workdays; getting ready for work at 5 a.m., driving to Naval Station Everett, and taking over for the outgoing duty section. Then will come cleaning, maintenance, training and more cleaning.

Petty Officer 1st Class Lucy Dennie will spend the holiday doing inventory of the ship’s store, making her way through 3 inches of paperwork.

A 17-year-Navy veteran, she has found herself working on all but four Christmasses during her military career.

"I always do Christmas on Christmas Eve," Dennie said.

She said she would stay up until midnight with her kids to open presents, then catch a few hours of sleep before work.

It’s just the second Christmas for the Shoup in Everett. The warship was launched in November 2000 and came to Everett in May 2002. And it’s since become the standout for celebrating the Yuletide season.

For the second year in a row, the destroyer has won a contest for best-decorated ship. Red, green and white lights are wrapped around the span wire that stretches from the warship’s flight deck to the top of the mast.

An inflatable Santa is perched atop the roof of the officer-of-the-deck’s shack on the aft quarterdeck, a stack of presents at his feet, wrapped in plastic to protect the packages from rain.

A large inflatable snowman stands near the gangplank, right arm raised in a salute to all those who step onto the 9,200-ton warship.

Crewmembers say the ship’s commanding officers have tried to ease the sting of the sailors’ sacrifice. Earlier this month, there was a holiday party on the destroyer, and more than 90 children from Shoup families came aboard. Ensign Benjamin Johnson played Santa.

"While all of us would like to be home on Christmas Day, our sacrifice is very small compared to our shipmates who are deployed overseas," Johnson said.

"And our soldiers as well," Dennie quickly added.

Sailors said they were looking forward to the holiday dinner, and maybe catching football on television when they’re not on duty.

"We’ll try to enjoy some holiday routine as much as possible," Petty Officer 2nd Class Antonio Garcia said.

"It’s not like we’re slaves, and we’re working all day," added Petty Officer 3rd Class Jose Ortega.

Holiday trappings can be found throughout the ship. There’s an artificial Christmas tree in the enlisted sailors’ mess deck. And the menu for tonight’s festive dinner would make Old St. Nick loosen his belt. There will be cherry and apple pies, roast turkey with bread dressing, giblet gravy, corn on the cob and honey-baked ham.

And sailors aren’t worried that the real Santa won’t drop by, despite the destroyer’s lack of a chimney.

"He’ll climb down the smokestacks," Wright said. "We’ve got four stacks. Santa can choose from one of those."

Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.