Thanx for the thoughts folks. Really. His being in the Gulf came as kind of a shock to me. I knew that he had gotten underway for points unknown a couple of weeks back. Since he is based out of Japan, I figured that he was somewhere over in the Pacific yet (last time they deployed under a veil of secrecy, they went to East Timor). I did not know that they had brought the Pac Fleet into the gulf.
Anyway, hopefully he will stay safe and be out of there by December when he rotates to his next ship out of San Diego. He says that he does not think that he will end up back in the gulf at that point becasuse the ship he will be going to is in the gulf right now and should be back in San Diego by the time e reports next March. (Leaves current ship in December then has several schools and goes to San Diego in March)
PD, he is on the Juneau:
"The USS JUNEAU (LPD 10) is an AUSTIN Class Transport Dock ship. This class of ship is in principal a combination of three other types of amphibious ships: the LSD (Dock Landing Ship), the APA (Attack Personnel Transport) and the LKA (Amphibious Cargo Ship). The features which these ships passed along to the LPD include the well deck and flight deck from the LSD, the troop carrying capacity of the APA, and the cargo handling and stowage capability of the LKA. In addition, JUNEAU is configured as a flagship to support an Amphibious Task Force Commander and Landing Force Commander. In an amphibious assault, JUNEAU would normally function as the Primary Control Ship (PCS) and be responsible for coordinating boat waves and vectoring landing craft to the beach. "
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