Culberson County Commissioner Recalls Life at Sea
“IKE flexes; Iraq backs down”
The intensity behind this headline that marches atop the front page of the Nov. 17, 1998, issue of the “Five Star Bulletin” is amplified by a black-and-white photo of sailors from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. In the photo the sailors are moving tons of ordnance to the flight deck of the aircraft carrier known to its occupants as “Ike.”
Tensions had mounted the preceding week as Ike patrolled the waters of the Persian Gulf. The ship had left its home port of Norfolk, Va., in June on the 10th-ever deployment of the nuclear-powered, NIMITZ class carrier named after the nation’s 34th president.
Saddam Hussein’s continued noncompliance with United Nations Security Council resolutions prompted the United States Central Command to set in motion Operation Desert Viper. The mission called for the launch of an air campaign on Saturday, Nov. 14, 1998, and some 4,700 sailors assigned to Ike assumed battle mode. Pilots clustered in briefing rooms, crews inspected their F/A-18 and F-14 jets, and weapons specialists loaded bombs etched with messages including “Smile, baby,” and “We only care to send the very best.”
Adrian Norman, age 21 at the time, was an Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (ABE) charged with operating and maintaining the arresting gear, barricades and flight deck launch and recovery equipment. In layman’s terms, Norman helped catapult the jets on takeoff and catch them on landing.
“I had always wanted to work with airplanes,” said Norman, now a Culberson County commissioner. “And I had always wanted to join the Navy.”
At 4:51 p.m., 69 minutes before what would have been the heaviest air campaign against Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War, the mission was placed on a 24-hour hold. The next day the hold order was repeated following news from Washington that Iraq had sent a conciliatory letter to the United Nations.
Sailors on the 18-deck ship continued to fight the rushes of adrenaline as they anticipated reactivation of their mission. However, President Bill Clinton decided to accept Iraq’s cooperation pledge, and the mission was scrapped.
“When the order to cancel the strike was announced, a sigh of relief could be heard around the ship,” Norman recalled. “The 24 hours prior were very intense. Our division was ready to go, and we had to sleep at our assigned station. This is what we had trained for.”
As history reveals, Saddam Hussein’s pledge was short-lived, and Operation Desert Fox was launched as a four-day bombing campaign in mid-December 1998. However, Ike had already set sail for its scheduled return to Norfolk.
Norman’s tour in Iraq from June 1998 to December 1998 was part of his four-year enlistment spanning 1996 to 2000.
About three weeks before Desert Viper, Norman and his 32 fellow sailors with Air Department’s V-2 Division Arresting Gear celebrated 6,900 “traps,” a record number accomplished four months into the Mediterranean deployment. The sailors assigned to Arresting Gear were responsible for the equipment that was used to trap airplanes on the deck of an aircraft carrier. A “trap” occurred when an aircraft’s tail hook caught one of the four wires stretched across the aft section of Ike’s flight deck. Sailors who manned the arresting gear worked extremely long hours with minimal sleep.
The “Five Star Bulletin,” a newsletter that served Ike’s crew, celebrated the record number of traps with a front-page article that quoted Norman as saying, “It took a lot of teamwork to get us here. We had to be really motivated, but it’s worth every minute.”
In fact, the entire tour was a rewarding experience. As a veteran looking back, Norman said his years in the Navy opened doors of opportunity for him including the chance to attend college.
As an Aviation Boatswain’s Mate, Norman also was trained to operate and service aircraft crash, firefighting and rescue equipment and to perform crash rescue and removal. He remembers one time, in particular, when Ike rescued a civilian diver who had been lost at sea.
Ike had just set sail on a special cruise with friends and family of the sailors. Shortly after Ike was underway, the executive officer conducted a “man overboard drill” to demonstrate standard procedures to follow if someone were to fall over the side of the ship.
As soon as the drill was complete, a message came over the ship’s loudspeaker saying, “Man overboard! This is not a drill!”
A sailor aboard Ike had spotted a man in the water waving for help. The civilian diver had been adrift for 24 hours, and Ike crew members proceeded to rescue him. Norman, who was getting ready to trap an aircraft at the time, said the rescue took place very quickly.
After Norman returned to civilian life he attended college and eventually came home to Van Horn. He has been a Culberson County commissioner for almost two years, and in January Norman plans to return to college and complete a degree in business management.
As he continues to serve – now as a county government official – Norman is reminded of his military career when recalling the words of his favorite quote by Chief Anthony Logan, U.S. Navy: “When you work hard it will always show…even when you feel nobody is looking.”