Subscribe now: RSS news feed, plus free headlines for your site

Sharing a sailor's life

By Connie Bennett
Posted Tuesday, September 2, 2008

 E-mail this page    Printer-friendly page

Editor’s note: Connie Bennett (above on left next to a fighter jet on the deck of the U.S.S. Harry Truman), owner of The Mulberry Basket in Angleton, agreed to share photos and thoughts from a recent trip with Journal readers.

The USS Harry S. Truman Battleship group heading out for a seven-month deployment.

This summer I got to take the trip of a lifetime. I got to attend a Tiger Cruise aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. My daughter, MM2 Carolyn Lenzner, is assigned to the carrier and they were returning from a seven-month deployment to the middle east. The carrier made a stop in Florida and took on over 900 family members (Tigers) for a 2 ½-day cruise to Norfolk, Va.

MM2 Carolyn Lenzner in front of a radar plane assigned to the Truman.

I really wasn't sure I wanted to make this trip to begin with, but as I waited with a couple of hundred people for the bus ride to the ship, the excitement set in.

The tower on the flight deck of the USS Harry S. Truman. It is 10 stories up to the bridge.

The whole trip was just awesome. I actually was able to get on the ship without Carolyn knowing and got to surprise her. And before I get really started let me tell you, movies do not do these ships justice. They are huge, it is a floating city with tons of ladder wells!

On Monday we left Florida to begin our journey. There was so much to do and see. Throughout the whole ship, sailors were prepared to explain each department, and there were a lot of them. Being on the flight deck is really hard to explain, it is so large. The view from the vulture nest is awesome, but from the bridge, you can see forever. I even got to sit in the Captain's chair.

Tuesday was the icing on the cake for me. It was the day of the air show. Standing on that flight deck with the fighter jets taking off and landing, and when they did, the sonic boom. All I could think was do it again. I know I probably embarrassed my daughter, but it was a dream come true. What can I say—“Top Gun” is still my favorite movie.

Wednesday started really early. We were to arrive in port around 10 am. You could feel the excitement. As I stood in the hangar bay while we backed into the pier, I looked around and I was so thankful I had made this trip. For a few days I got to be a little part of my daughter's life in the Navy. Up and down ladder wells, sleeping in her rack, standing in lines that wound up several flights for meals, standing on the flight deck and looking out over the vast Atlantic.

MM2 Carolyn Lenzner sees her husband, MM2 Blaine Lenzner, and their daughter Erin, for the first time in seven months.

I realized this was only a small part of what these sailors had lived for seven months. I'm so proud of my daughter and her fellow sailors. And the look on her face when she saw her daughter and husband for the first time in seven months was priceless.

 E-mail this page
 Printer-friendly page