Mayport Welcomes 400 Sailors Home
POSTED: Wednesday, June 4, 2008
MAYPORT, Fla. -- More than 400 sailors returned home Wednesday from a six-month deployment in Europe and the Persian Gulf.
The USS Carney, USS Hue City and three helicopter detachments returned to Mayport from a deployment with the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group.
Family and friends were on the docks before 8 a.m. to welcome home the sailors, including Brienne Gardiner, who is 8½ months pregnant who was concerned that her husband, James, might not get home in time.
"I definitely feel a sense of relief that he is here," Gardiner said. "Since he pretty much missed out on a lot of the pregnancy, it'll be nice to have him here for the end."
While deployed, the ships participated anti-narcotics and anti-human smuggling maritime security operations, some of which were done with forces from Yemen, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Croatia, Germany, Bahrain, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, France and Japan.
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