Navy unit returns to Islands

Family members gathered at Hangar 104 yesterday grew excited on seeing the last of the 12 planes of the Navy P-3 Orion patrol unit arrive home after six months in the Middle East. The world changed while they were away. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Ask anyone in the military about deployment, and they'll tell you how tough it is to be away from loved ones for six months. But that was only the half of it for Patrol Squadron 9, a Navy P-3 Orion unit that returned yesterday to Marine Corps Base, Hawai'i.

The 385-member squadron left in June for peacetime missions out of Diego Garcia, and wound up flying combat missions over Afghanistan.

For them, nothing was normal after Sept. 11. Not even their homecoming.

Theirs was the first Hawai'i-based unit to return from Operation Enduring Freedom.

"It was a long time to be away," said Lt. (j.g.) Jeffrey Freye, holding his 2-year-old son on his hip. "It was a little harder to be away after Sept. 11. But it was good to be there knowing I was able to do something."

Exactly what he did, he can't say. Neither can his commanders.

The last of the P-3 Orion aircraft in the Navy's VP-9 Golden Eagles returns home to its base at Kane'ohe Bay. The planes began arriving last weekend. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Before it landed, the P-3 buzzed the tarmac, raising and dipping its wings to wave to the 40 wildly cheering family members below.

After it taxied up to the crowd, a Marine band, an admiral and Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris welcomed them.

But it was the wives and children they had come home to: tight embraces, long kisses, children flying into their father's arms.

"I think he's a little overwhelmed now," Rhonda Freye said as her husband hugged his two children. "The kids have changed. My daughter has no front teeth. And now she's in kindergarten."

Crews from VP-9, as it is known inside the Navy, flew maritime reconnaissance missions before Sept. 11, helping the Navy intercept ships smuggling oil from Iraq. Once the United States went to war, the crews flew "force protection" missions.

Rear Adm. Anthony L. Winns, commander of Patrol and Reconnaissance Force, Pacific, said the squadron gave U.S. forces "a clear picture" of the enemy that brought "quick, decisive action and ultimately victory."

"You have successfully completed one of the most challenging deployments in U.S. history," Winns said. "From maritime surveillance to Taliban and al-Qaida target recognition, the squadron rose to the challenge. The Navy and our nation are indebted to you."

Cmdr. Robert Lally, the commander of the squadron, said his men worked 18 hour days, seven days a week.

Master Chief Don Magnes gets a hug from his wife, Mary. His six-month deployment was far from routine. The squadron left for the Indian Ocean and ended up flying combat missions over Afghanistan. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

The squadron flew about 7,500 hours while overseas. A normal deployment would find them in the air for a total of 5,400 hours.

"This is a tough one to come home from," said the 42-year-old Lally, himself a veteran of seven deployments. "The pace was tremendous. But everybody stepped up to the plate."

Even so, the men looked dazed as they milled about a giant hangar.

Or maybe they were just eager to get home.

That's how it was for Petty Officer 1st class Albert Stubbs. He had only been with the squadron for two weeks, living out of a hotel, when he left for the other side of the world.

"I don't even know where we live yet," he said. "It was good to be able to do the job we were trained to do and to know we have a purpose and to know we had the support of the people back home."

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.