A 9/11 Memory ...
A 9/11 memory ... The horror and the rage of that day will never fade, but the 19 years have brought some perspective on the craziness that ensued ... The Navy has a great tradition called “Tiger Cruise”: An aircraft carrier returning from deployment makes a port visit enroute home, and family members (“Tigers”) fly out, meet the carrier and ride home aboard the ship for the final few days into home port, witnessing full naval operations up close. As young boys, my brother Gregg Z Garcia and I were my Dad’s Tigers aboard the USS CONSTELLATION. Two decades later I was assigned aboard CONSTELLATION, and we were heading home following a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf, when we pulled into Pearl Harbor to pick up our Tigers for the final transit back to Naval Station San Diego.
Back in the day, Tigers consisted of the sons or fathers of the crew members. But over the years that changed, and when we left Pearl, we embarked over 500 Tigers - Moms, Dads, Sons, Daughters. That’s my Tiger in the photo, nephew Danny Garcia, with me on CONNIE’s flight deck.
Midway through the transit home, we received the news of the attacks on the East Coast. In the initial “fog of war”, when no one knew the extent of the attacks and if an active threat remained, our Strike Group’s orders changed rapidly. At one point we were directed to take up a position off the Los Angeles basin “in defense of Southern California.” And at one point our guidance was to turn the carrier around, and proceed back to the Persian Gulf - with no time to drop off the civilians (and with the nation’s airports locked down, they had nowhere to go anyway). We were going to war, and 500 of our family members were going with us ... and they were fired up to do so!
Ultimately we were ordered back to San Diego. Disney made a cheesy movie about the scenario called “Tiger Cruise” (Trailer linked below). CONNIE got her flight deck re-surfaced, deep maintenance completed, and was back in the fight 12 months later. And 500 Tigers have a memory they’ll never forget. FLY NAVY
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10 个月Beautiful post ????
Sr. QA Manager| Chief Compliance Officer | Staff QA Engineer | Director Talent Mgmt | RCA Trainer | Veteran
2 年Great to hear of your Naval service to our country. I was at NAS Miramar F-14 Tomcat Fleet support.
Director of Security and Land Manager; FBI Supervisory Special Agent (Retired)
3 年That's a great story my friend. Ironically, I have never heard of the events in that tragic day for those 'Tigers'. I agree, those on board USS Constellation indeed have a story. As we approach our 30 year anniversary meeting at AOCS and I am closing down that career I muse how so much of my FBI career was altered so quickly on that September day.
Retired Chief Information Officer / Senior IT Executive, and Cancer Warrior
4 年Great story Juan! Stories like yours are important to educate the country about the heroes that protect our freedom. Thank you for your service!
Executive Director at Our Military Kids
4 年I had not heard this story before. Thanks for sharing. My husband was at RAND with our young kids just miles from LAX, and I was at a school as a Reservist in San Diego. Agree the horror and rage of that day will never fade.