Mom Follows the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)
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--EDS NOTE: PICTURE MAY HAVE BEEN REVIEWED AS IT WAS SENT VIA NAVY COMMUNICATIONS--U.S. Navy Lt. j.g. Sara, of Billings, Mont., stands near an F14 Tomcat in the hanger bay of the USS Theodore Roosevelt Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2001, currently on deployment in the Arabian Sea. Lt. Sara is a weapons officer flying combat missions aboard an F14 Tomcat against targets in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
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October 24, 2001
PO Jermaine is one of 10 Muslims serving on USS TR
Muslim TR crewman sees no conflict between his faith and his duty
He's the ship's disc jockey. "Good morning, TR and welcome aboard the night train," as he starts his late night show.
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An F/A-18 'Hornet' from the 'Marauders' of Strike Fighter Squadron Eight Two ignites its afterburners as it prepares to be catapulted from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, October 23, 2001. U.S. warplanes hit a crowded bus and worshipers leaving a mosque in their latest raids to flush out Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan, the ruling Taliban said October 25. (US Navy via Reuters)
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EDS NOTE: PICTURE MAY HAVE BEEN REVIEWED AS IT WAS SENT VIA NAVY COMMUNICATIONS--A flight deck director aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt watches an aircraft launch Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2001. The Roosevelt is currently operating in the Arabian Sea and is one of the many ships involved in the attacks in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
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EDS NOTE: PICTURE MAY HAVE BEEN REVIEWED AS IT WAS SENT VIA NAVY COMMUNICATIONS--Sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt check e-mail Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2001. The Roosevelt is currently operating in the Arabian Sea and is one of the many ships involved in the attacks in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
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EDS NOTE: PICTURE MAY HAVE BEEN REVIEWED AS IT WAS SENT VIA NAVY COMMUNICATIONS--Crew members of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt stand in line for an evening meal Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2001. The Roosevelt is currently operating in the Arabian Sea and is one of the many ships involved in the attacks in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
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(Aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, October 25th, 2001, 8:40 a.m.) The commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt battle group says air strikes in Afghanistan are starting to disrupt the fragile Taliban coalition.
Navy Rear Admiral Mark Fitzgerald says several small groups and tribal armies are defecting to the anti-Taliban opposition. Aircraft from the Norfolk-based Roosevelt have been flying nightly assaults against Taliban troops and suspected terrorist training sites for a week now.
The Roosevelt is one of three U.S. Navy battle groups in the Arabian Sea.
(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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In this handout photo from the U.S. Navy made available Thursday, Oct. 25, 2001, a sailor from the "Marauders" of Strike Fighter Squadron Eight Two observes flight operations on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2001. Theodore Roosevelt and it carrier airwing are conducting missions in support of operation Enduring Freedom. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Amy DelaTorres)
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EDS NOTE: PICTURE MAY HAVE BEEN REVIEWED AS IT WAS SENT VIA NAVY COMMUNICATIONS-U.S. Navy ordnance personnel move a 2,000-pound bomb on the deck of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt Thursday Oct. 25, 2001. The Roosevelt is currently operating in the Arabian Sea launching air strikes against targets in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
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EDS NOTE: PICTURE MAY HAVE BEEN REVIEWED AS IT WAS SENT VIA NAVY COMMUNICATIONS--A U.S. Navy Postal Clerk rests on several sacks of outgoing mail Thursday Oct. 25, 2001, aboard the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt. While sailors and marines aboard the Roosevelt can send and receive e-mail letters from home are still a much welcomed part of shipboard life. The Roosevelt is currently operating in the Arabian Sea launching air strikes against targets in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
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--EDS NOTE: PICTURE MAY HAVE BEEN REVIEWED AS IT WAS SENT VIA NAVY COMMUNICATIONS--A U.S. Navy pilot writes a personal message on a guided bomb Saturday, Oct. 27, 2001, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. The Roosevelt is currently operating in the Arabian Sea and is one of the many ships involved in the attacks in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
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--EDS NOTE: PICTURE MAY HAVE BEEN REVIEWED AS IT WAS SENT VIA NAVY COMMUNICATIONS--U.S. Navy Ordinance personel stand near a row of bombs during flight operations aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt Sunday, Oct. 28, 2001. The Roosevelt is currently operating in the Arabian Sea launching night and day bombing strikes against targets in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
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--EDS NOTE: PICTURE MAY HAVE BEEN REVIEWED AS IT WAS SENT VIA NAVY COMMUNICATIONS--A U.S. Navy jet mechanic works on an engine from an S-3B Viking jet aircraft Sunday, Oct. 28, 2001, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. More than 450 mechanics and technicians work around the clock to keep the Roosevelt's 76 aircraft flying and striking targets in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
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EDS NOTE: PICTURE MAY HAVE BEEN REVIEWED AS IT WAS SENT VIA NAVY COMMUNICATIONS--U.S. Navy support personel attend to the maintenance of a U.S. Navy F14 Tomcat on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt Sunday, Oct. 28, 2001. The Roosevelt is currently operating in the Arabian Sea launching night and day airstrikes against targets in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
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--EDS NOTE: PICTURE MAY HAVE BEEN REVIEWED AS IT WAS SENT VIA NAVY COMMUNICATIONS--U.S. Navy support personnel work on F/A18 Hornets on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Arabian Sea Sunday, Oct. 28, 2001. The Roosevelt is currently launching night and day bombing strikes against targets in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
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USS Theodore Roosevelt, October 29th, 2001, 7:17 a.m.) Aircraft from the Theodore Roosevelt have made 25-hundred flights since the aircraft carrier left Norfolk in mid-September.
The task of maintaining the 76 military aircraft so they're ready to strike targets in Afghanistan falls to a small army of mechanics and technicians. There are 450 mechanics aboard the Roosevelt, and Lieutenant Dave Woods of Chesapeake says they're trained to fix problems with everything from engines to radar scopes to rudder assemblies.
Lieutenant Nate Schneider of Powhatan says two Roosevelt repair teams have had extra work: the electronics shop, which repairs the high-tech laser system on the smart'' bombs, and the unit that maintains the racks that attach bombs to the planes. (Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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(Washington, D.C. October 29th, 2001, 12:01 p.m.) Virginia's minute of silence law will stand.
The U.S. Supreme Court today refused without comment to hear a challenge to the state law requiring schoolchildren to observe a moment of silence each day.
Opponents claim Virginia's minute of silence is unconstitutional and call it an encouragement of classroom prayer. But the state says a minute of silence doesn't violate the separation of church and state.
It argues that children can meditate or stare out the window, as long as they're quiet. The law specifically lists prayer as one silent activity that public school students might choose. At least four other states have laws like Virginia's: Nebraska, Nevada, Tennessee and West Virginia. (Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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 All content © Copyright 2000, 2001, WorldNow and WTKR. All Rights Reserved.
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EDS NOTE: PICTURE MAY HAVE BEEN REVIEWED AS IT WAS SENT VIA NAVY COMMUNICATIONS--U.S. Navy Aviation Mechanics from the airframe repair division show off their fiberglass jack o'lantern Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2001, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. The sailors were participating in a ship-wide pumpkin making contest to celebrate Halloween at sea. The Roosevelt is currently operating in the Arabian Sea launching day and night air strikes against targets in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
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Tuesday October 30 5:24 PM ET U.S. Ship Celebrates Halloween By CHRIS TOMLINSON, Associated Press Writer
ABOARD THE USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (AP) - The crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt celebrated Halloween with a door-decorating contest, improvised jack-o'-lanterns and the ship's mascot donning a ghost costume to trick-or-treat through the aircraft carrier's passage ways.
While the business of launching jets to attack Taliban and al-Qaida targets in Afghanistan continued, some of the ship's 5,500-person crew celebrated the holiday the best they could, and in remarkably ingenious ways.
Mechanics in the airframe department fashioned a three-foot jack-o'-lantern from fiberglass, welding rods, old rags, papier- mache and orange paint. Petty Officer 2nd Class Courtland of Big Piney, Mo., said the sailors in his section spent their free time over four days to build the pumpkin.
``I think its kind of a nice change of pace from working on airplanes,'' Courtland, 21, said. ``Something out of the ordinary.''
Members of the aircraft carrier's crew can decide to only be identified by their first names for security reasons.
Because they work the night shift, waking up at 6 p.m. and working until noon the next day, Halloween celebrations began late Tuesday.
In addition to making pumpkins, the morale, welfare and recreation department also organized a door-decorating contest. The airframe department decided to participate in that as well, hanging a painting of Dracula in a Transylvanian cemetery. One of the grave stones was for Osama bin Laden, leader of the al-Qaida organization and prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In the air operations department, Petty Officer 3rd Class Michele Blymire, 21, and Airman Marlene Hernandez, 19, decorated their door with an inflatable Frankenstein and drawings of bats and pumpkins.
Hernandez said she would normally go trick-or-treating in her neighborhood in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. She said she may give it a try on the carrier, if work allows and ``if I get permission to put on makeup and stuff.''
``We're on a six-month cruise and holidays bring out the spirit in all of us. It's important to have holiday spirit,'' Blymire, of Seville, Fla., said. ``It also breaks the monotony.''
Breaking the routine of daily 12-hour or more shifts by celebrating holidays on ship, even during war time, is important for the crew's morale, agreed Kim Watkins, the Theodore Roosevelt's morale officer.
``It's like `Groundhog Day,' the movie where the same thing happens everyday,'' Watkins, a civilian from Louisville, Ky., said. ``We try to help people get away from the mundane.''
But the ship's mission always comes first, she added. ``We didn't plan a lot because of the operation.''
In honor of former President Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose party, the ship's mascot is a moose, a crewmember in a costume who wanders the ship's passageways like Mickey Mouse in Disneyland, playing practical jokes on bemused sailors.
For Halloween, the moose donned a ghost costume to go trick-or- treating through the ship.
``It helps keep things light,'' Watkins said. ``No one can walk past the moose and not smile.''
Most sailors on the Theodore Roosevelt expect to remain at sea, probably until the end of the carrier's deployment in March.
``We'll probably make ... a turkey for Thanksgiving,'' said Petty Officer 3rd Class Matt, of Vero Beach, Fla. ``For Christmas, we'll turn it into a snowman.''
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EDS NOTE: PICTURE MAY HAVE BEEN REVIEWED AS IT WAS SENT VIA NAVY COMMUNICATIONS-The crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt listens to a pep talk from U.S. Navy Secretary Gordon England, holding microphone on the stage, during his visit to the ship in the Arabian Sea, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2001. Gordon told the crew, "Happy Halloween Taliban, may the U.S. Navy make this the scariest day of your short life." (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
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