The ritual was the same as it always is in San Diego this week, but it was also different.
It was another Navy homecoming at North Island at Naval Base Coronado as the aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt and thousands of sailors returned home after a long deployment.
When you’re in the Navy or if you’re a family member of a sailor, deployments overseas become a part of your life. And we all see Navy warships coming and going all year long as they come in and out of San Diego Bay.
Homecomings after deployments are always emotional as sailors are embraced by their loved ones as they disembark from huge ships.
But according to those who were there this week as the Roosevelt returned home said it was even more emotional than usual. It was an extra-long deployment for one, some nine months.
But with the ship and its crew having been in the Middle East with the war and the tensions, families were especially on edge while their sailors were away.
As one mother of one of the sailors told the San Diego Union Tribune, “There’s been so much craziness going on in the world…it worries me.”
This week’s homecoming was another reminder of how important San Diego is to the nation’s defense and also why there are so many special people here who are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to serve their country.
(Photo Getty Images)
Photo: U.S. Navy via Getty Images