Bataan (LHD 5) - Naval Cruise Book

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first launch 3 We made the 400-mile trip to the Kandahar area, found our tanker and reported on station. You could walk in the sky it was so I ull of Allied aircraft, which gave us comfort knowing we were not alone. That ' s when the magnitude of the situation hit me. Time compressed, it felt like it took an hour to go the last few miles prior to dropping the bombs. I was feeling smug of the gift ! was going to deliver to some hate filled terrorist and at the same time shocked that 1 was actually going to deliver steel in anger. ly hat goes off to the engineers; the jet ' s bombing system worked flawlessly .md the Laser Guided Bomb worked just as well. This was the lirst ordnance the USS Hataan ever delivered against any enemy. It was also the first bomb my parents squadron. VMA 223 (The Great American Bulldogs) has dropped inceVietNam. Ever .e onboard the Bataan should share the success of the mission and all of the missions like it. Without the grapes pumping JP 5, the blue shirts busting chains, the Marine mechanics and maintainers fixing the aircraft, the mess men working hard, and every and all sort of personnel onboard the Bataan, none ol this would have been possible. My hats nil to m. You made me proud, the Skipper proud, the Navy Marine Corps proud and .America proud . Nathan Berryman Raj i HMM J65( apt I SM 250

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w ® 9 : . v» 4 « 3 f expressed our feel- ings about Osma Bin Laden by s e nding personal messages on bombs that were dropped over Af- ghanistan. 1 o s XS li o

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