SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
After nearly a year at sea, the crew of the USS Gerald R. Ford has returned home, greeted by thousands of cheering family members and friends. It's part of a process to ease sailors through what could be a difficult transition after enduring two conflicts - a fire and problems with the sewage system. Steve Walsh with WHRO has the story.
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STEVE WALSH, BYLINE: Sailors lined the deck of the aircraft carrier as it pulled into Norfolk. Helenna Parrish let out a whoop as she spotted her daughter, Asia, a culinary specialist on the USS Gerald R. Ford.
ELENA PARISH: Man, I'm just happy she back on U.S. soil. That's all. I'm happy she back - and all of them, really, all of them, you know, her shipmates 'cause I know some are stronger than others. So I pray for all of them.
WALSH: This was her daughter's first deployment. Ford's tour stretched from the coast of Venezuela to the Red Sea for the war with Iran. The Navy estimates they traveled enough to circle the Earth three times before the exhausted crew returned home.
BRITTANY HYDER: These kids are ready for their dad to come home, and I'm ready for a break (laughter). It's long, and I'm ready for my husband to come home.
WALSH: Brittany Hyder waited on the pier for her husband, Mack, an aviation ordnanceman on USS Ford. They have three children all under 8. He was also on the Ford for eight months when war broke out between Israel and Gaza. He was home for less than 18 months before leaving again, this time for nearly a year.
HYDER: I'm just trying to get back to a schedule with him coming back, trying to reintegrate him back into what we do every day.
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WALSH: The hero's welcome is a Navy tradition that also has practical value. It will help inoculate the crew as they transition from the stress and camaraderie of life onboard ship to the quiet reality of life back home with their families. Carl Castro is a professor at USC. He directs the Military and Veterans Programs at the School of Social Work.
CARL CASTRO: You want them coming off that ship thinking that every minute they were on that ship was worth it, and they would do it again. Then you know that you've built this resilience.
WALSH: USS Ford broke a post-Vietnam record for a carrier deployment. Castro predicts there will be a 30- to 40-day honeymoon period before the reality of home life sets in. Some relationships will have cracked. He recommends families ease into their daily routines and that the Navy give sailors ample time off. Since they left Norfolk June 24, roughly 80 children were born to sailors in the Strike Group, says Strike Group Commander Rear Admiral Gavin Duff.
GAVIN DUFF: Some are going to read their kids books as they fall asleep tonight or rock their newborns. But fundamentally, we're going to reconnect and reintegrate, and that's where our focus is going to be for the next several weeks.
WALSH: Duff says there will be leave and shortened work weeks. How much is up to individual commanders. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle says the Navy doesn't want to break any more records. Planners are trying to bring down the length of deployments, which have grown steadily.
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WALSH: Jalyssa De La Rosa waited for her partner, Omar Mora. She held their 4-month-old son.
JALYSSA DE LA ROSA: It's been emotional. You know, he left when I was 10 weeks pregnant. So, you know, I went through the whole pregnancy, you know, by myself. He missed the birth.
WALSH: De La Rosa is also a sailor. She watched the headlines about the fire in the laundry room, which spread into birthing areas, and issues with the sewage system that caused toilets to shut down at times.
DE LA ROSA: Honestly, I think deployments should be no more than seven months. Almost a year out to sea is very depressing - overworking, you know, especially the plumbing issues, the fire. You know, it was very low morale for everybody. So I know everybody's glad to be at home.
WALSH: The Gerald R. Ford will now go into maintenance.
For NPR News, I'm Steve Walsh in Norfolk, Virginia.
(SOUNDBITE OF MORUF & SZA SONG, "PT CRUISER") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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