NORFOLK, Va. — Saturday was day two of a three-day homecoming in Hampton Roads for service members assigned to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group.
The group of four ships, nine squadrons, and 6,500 sailors is returning after a nine-month deployment defending the Red Sea from relentless Houthi rebel attacks, in the midst of the Israel-Hamas war.
Several Navy Super Hornet squadrons returned Friday. The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, the cruiser USS Philippine Sea and the destroyer USS Gravely will return Sunday.
Today, the “Dusty Dogs” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 7 arrive at Naval Station Norfolk.
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The helicopter squadron operates the Sikorsky MH-60S Knighthawk and is part of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3.
According to the Navy's description of the squadron, HSC-7 provides a number of services to the Eisenhower carrier strike group: essential search and rescue, anti-surface warfare, personnel recovery, Naval Special Warfare support, combat logistics, antiterrorism force protection, vertical replenishment, medical evacuations, and other various overland and maritime capabilities.
After shipping out last Oct. 14 and having the deployment extended twice, the group spent most of the past nine months in the Middle East engaged in combat operations at a tempo not seen since World War II.
Service members in the unit say they felt the emotions when they landed this afternoon.
"I saw them from the aircraft and I joked with my crew that my eyes were sweating a little bit," Commander Patrick Dunn said.
The Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group escorted 28 vessels, launching hundreds of missiles. Ike aircrews flew more than 13,000 sorties, accumulated more than 31,000 flight hours, and completed more than 10,000 aircraft launches and recoveries.
Families at the event tell 13News Now they're excited to have their families whole again.
"I'm definitely ready to have my partner back with me," One mother said.
Another family we spoke to was bittersweet because they knew retirement was coming soon.
"It's been a long 10 months for us. This is probably our last deployment, but it was a long one and it was hard. We didn't have a ton of communication and we didn't get to do very much as far as connect, so we're really excited."