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Aqaba, Jordan - July 2001
Captain Edward Caricato
[Editor's Note: Capt. Caricato wrote the following letter during a six month deployment aboard the USS Boxer (similar to a miniature aircraft carrier). He was the Executive Officer for a Marine field artillery battery. Prior to Jordan, they had been to Saudi Arabia.]
Following the training in Saudi, everyone came back aboard and the ship seemed to become
![]() We arrived in Aqaba, Jordan and began offloading our vehicles and howitzers. We were not scheduled to make the 200+ mile convoy to the training area for about 3 more days. I got a chance to walk around the port facilities one day and was surprised at how nice the area seemed to be. We could see the beach from the ship and the water, even within the harbor was crystal clear. I was really hoping for a day of liberty after the exercise was over because friends have told me that the diving and snorkeling is great. Right in the middle of the offload, we received word to pack everything back up, turn the convoys around that already left, get everyone back on the ship because we were leaving in a day and a half. Apparently, someone a lot higher ranking than anyone on our ship received some information that elevated the threat condition to D, which is pretty high. In fact, as I'm sure it was reported on CNN, CNBC and everywhere else, the entire Persian Gulf/Red Sea theater had been placed in this condition. At this point I am sure that everyone at home with a TV, computer or radio had more information about what was going on than we did out here. That is usually how it works. Needless to say rumors were flying but we packed up all our toys, got a head count making sure we were not leaving anyone behind and got back out to sea. [Continued: Click on Countries - Thailand]
Think Globally - Act Locally - Pray for World Peace
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