MAYPORT, Fla. – After months away at sea, some crew members from the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Indianapolis are back home at the Naval Station Mayport — just in time for Christmas.
Members from the combat ship’s Blue Crew had been away since early July, becoming the first LCS to execute an Exchange of Command and full Crew Sawp in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Northern Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Gulf.
The flight that brought the nearly 60 crew members back home landed around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Once family members saw their loved ones who’d been gone for months, the emotions started flowing.
News4JAX spoke with a family who said they’re happy to be back together again.
“It was like so happy to see our dad back in and it was like so emotional, it was just so fun to see him,” Conner Pospisil said.
This family said the first thing they plan to do together is go out to eat. They said most likely, they will be visiting LongHorn.
“Just amazing. We missed him so much. We just love him and thank him for his service,” Kelly Pospisil said.
The Commander of the Blue crew said his team worked hard while they were overseas and he’s glad they got to come home at this time of the year, especially since it was unexpected.
“We were not expecting this. We were actually expecting to be home next month. So it was really a blessing to be home. And be back with family. And get these guys a break they deserve,” Cmrd. Matthew Arndt said.