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31 May 2000 Dear Samuel B. Roberts Family and Friends, Hello from the Mediterranean Sea! The men of the Sammy B. have been on the go for the last month. We just arrived in the Med a few days ago and we are now enjoying our port visit in Limassol, Cyprus. After spending two months in the Mideast region, the men of the Sammy B. are delighted to be back in the Med. Over the past month the Sammy B. did a lot of traveling. We started the month offloading some equipment in Bahrain, then returning back on station in the Arabian Gulf to complete our Maritime Interception Operations duties. We were all pretty excited to leave "The Gulf" and we transited from the Straits of Hormuz and all the way around the Arabian Peninsula, eventually into the Red Sea and to the port of Safaga, Egypt. While in Safaga, the crew prepared for an exercise with the Egyptians called Eagle Salute. Despite our short time in Egypt, some of the crew, about sixty of them, visited the site of Luxor, which is part of the ancient ruins of Egypt. After a successful exercise with the Egyptian Navy in the northern Red Sea, the Sammy B. met up with patrol craft from the Jordanian Navy for another underway exercise called Infinite Shadow. Sammy B.'s next port visit was in Aqaba, Jordan. However, before our arrival in Aqaba we had to honor a rite of passage. On May 18th the Sammy B. celebrated our halfway point of the deployment. Hump Day was celebrated by raffling off prizes by the ship's Morale, Welfare and Recreation Committee. In addition, we had a cookout on the ship's forecastle or ship's bow. The cookout was just like our typical Sunday at Sea cookouts, complete with hamburgers, chicken, steak, all the condiments and beans, salad and cookies and also a DJ to play music, except that it was on a Thursday night. That night we set up a film on the flight deck. The next night as a carry over for Hump Day, the Chief Petty Officers put on an Italian Night on the mess decks. They out did themselves as they prepared pizza, spaghetti, garlic bread and breadsticks for a great meal that was enjoyed by all. During our port visit in Aqaba, the crew had the chance to visit the city, do some shopping and just plain relax. While in Aqaba, the Sammy B. hosted a reception on the flight deck for dignitaries from Aqaba and the Jordanian Navy. Aqaba was a watershed port visit for the crew because that signaled our last port visit in the Mideast and the Fifth Fleet area of operations. We left Aqaba in the early morning hours and started our transit down the Gulf of Aqaba, into the Red Sea and up through the Gulf of Suez. Our transit through the Suez Canal was long and the crew saw up close this vital and strategic waterway. During our canal transit, the MWR people once again sponsored an event called "run the ditch" in which crewmembers jogged around Sammy B.'s main deck while we sailed up the canal. Our arrival in the Med on 25 May was a happy thing and the next day we arrived in the port of Limassol, Cyprus. The crew is having a great time here and they are once again getting to experience life in the Med. Our time in the Mediterranean Sea this summer will be an exciting one. We have several port visits that are tentatively scheduled throughout the entire Med region. Your men will be getting around, but they will be ready, just like they proved in the Arabian Gulf, to answer the call and accomplish the mission when called upon. Before I close this out let me say that the Sammy B. and her crew cannot carry on and make it through the day without one important ingredient -- and that is you. Our homefront, most importantly our family, loved ones and friends have worked hard in supporting us and we are very proud of them. Your Family Support Group is planning a series of events, which will ultimately lead up to our homecoming. Also our monthly Ombudsman Newsletter can bring you up to speed on various Sammy B. details and upcoming events. Finally, in closing out this issue, I am extremely proud to be the Commanding Officer of USS Samuel B. Roberts and to serve with such a great crew. This ship has a tremendous history and a solid future. You can always rest assured that your men are vigilant, ready to go and will always be ready to answer the call. It is a great time to be in the U.S. Navy and serving onboard Sammy B! "NO HIGHER HONOR"
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