JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Happy Homecoming!
It was an emotional day at Naval Station Mayport on Saturday, as more than 112 Navy sailors finally returned home.
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USS Milwaukee (LCS 5), the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship, arrived from its first successful deployment to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations.
Family and friends welcomed the sailors home, holding signs, waving flags and cheering loud. This comes after the sailors were away for more than three and a half months.
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The ship deployed on Dec. 14 to conduct U.S. Southern Command and Joint Interagency Task Force South’s counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean Sea.
This was Stephen Rose’s second deployment.
“Words can’t describe how great it is to be home,” Rose said. “It was definitely a lot harder this time. The kids are a lot more grown-up. It’s definitely more difficult, but I’m so happy to be home and so happy to be back with them.”
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Here’s what his daughter, Lauren, told Action News Jax about one of the first things she can’t wait to do now that her dad is finally home.
“We’re going to go to Disney,” Lauren said.
Emily Lockman reunited with her husband Saturday, who was on his first deployment. Her husband was one of the first sailors off the ship, embracing Emily with a hug and a kiss that couldn’t have come soon enough.
“I’m proud of him,” Lockman said. “He has such a good support system. I’ve been here every step of the way. I couldn’t do it without him. I’m so proud of him.”
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Lockman said the months away felt much longer.
“Believe it or not, our first thing is to watch Spiderman,” Lockman said. “It came out right when he left, so we’ve been waiting for months to watch it.”
You could feel the emotions in the air as families held each other tight, now that their sailors are back in their arms.
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This ship seized more than $64 million dollars worth of drugs, keeping it off the streets of the United States. The crew also removed five suspected drug traffickers from the narcotics trade.
Commander Brian Forster has served in the Navy for nearly 20 years.
“This is a great moment,” Forster said. “Any time you can bring families back together after a crew that’s done so much on deployment. I cried a little bit when I saw the guy come off on the first kiss. It’s his first deployment, and I remember what that was like when I came back and saw my wife.”
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As for what’s next for the USS Milwaukee, Forster said the ship is now in a maintenance period and will begin exercises later this summer to train more crews on what it takes to be Navy sailors.
“This crew that came back here, they’re completely different than when they left,” Forster said.
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