Sailors in dress whites lined the deck of the aircraft carrier as it eased into Naval Station Norfolk last weekend, drawing cheering family and friends to the pier. Helenna Parrish whooped when she saw her daughter Asia, a culinary specialist, among the crew.
“I’m just happy she’s back on U.S. soil,” Parrish said. “I’m happy she’s back — all of them. Some are stronger than others, so I pray for all of them.”
For many families, the reunion ended a first deployment or a repeat separation that lasted far longer than expected. The USS Gerald R. Ford’s mission began last June and stretched from waters off Venezuela to the Red Sea, where carrier-based F/A-18s conducted missions tied to tensions involving Israel and Iran. The Navy says the carrier logged enough miles to circle the globe three times before the roughly 3,500 sailors still aboard returned to Norfolk; aviators assigned to fly from the ship departed earlier in the week.
Brittany Hyder waited on the pier for her husband Mack, an aviation ordnanceman. He served on the Ford during the early days of the Israel-Gaza fighting, came home in January, and then the carrier left again in June 2025. This deployment lasted nearly a year.
“These kids are ready for their dad to come home, and I’m ready for a break,” she said. The couple has three children under eight. “I’m trying to get back to a schedule with him coming back, trying to reintegrate him back into what we do every day,” Hyder added.
Crowds held handmade signs and posters with sailors’ faces and welcome-home messages. One read, “I’d wait forever, but 334 days is crazy.”
The celebratory welcome is more than tradition; experts say it helps sailors shift from the intense, shared life at sea back to quieter family routines. Carl Castro, who leads military and veterans programs at USC’s school of social work, says a strong reception reinforces that the sacrifice was worthwhile and can build resilience.
“You want them coming off that ship thinking every minute they were on that ship was worth it, and they would do it again,” Castro said. That mindset, he said, helps as crews adjust to civilian life and family responsibilities.
The Ford’s deployment — nearly 11 months — set a post-Vietnam record for a carrier. Navy officials and outside researchers note that even typical six- to seven-month deployments strain families; when separations approach a year, the impact multiplies. Heather Wolters, a senior researcher at the Center for Naval Analyses, said yearlong absences make it likely a sailor will miss major family milestones, increasing stress for everyone involved. She recommends that families and commanders ease back into routines and be mindful of alcohol use and other risks during the transition.
Rear Adm. Gavin Duff, who oversees the carrier strike group, said roughly 80 children were born to sailors in the group while the ship was deployed. In the weeks after return, Duff said, sailors will focus on reconnecting and reintegration; commanders will grant leave and may shorten work weeks, with specifics left to individual leadership.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle met families on the pier and emphasized that the Navy does not want repeated, extended deployments. He reiterated that the service’s designed deployment length is about seven months and called the Ford’s nearly 11-month tour a “once in a lifetime” event. Planners extended the Ford’s presence last year after the ship was ordered to the Caribbean as part of an effort related to Venezuela, and its mission later expanded to support operations tied to the conflict in the Middle East.
“We really want to deploy our ships for the length of time they’re designed to,” Caudle said. “But when we are called to actually go into harm’s way and provide our Navy combat power for longer than that, we do that.”
Not all reactions were congratulatory. Sen. Mark Warner criticized the decision to keep the Ford deployed, especially after a March fire in a laundry room that damaged berthing spaces used by hundreds of sailors. He said extended deployments risk losing trained personnel and plans to meet with families in Norfolk.
As sailors disembarked, some reunions were intensely personal. Jaylessa De La Rosa, who is also a sailor, waited holding her four-month-old son for partner Omar Mora. Mora left when she was 10 weeks pregnant and missed the birth.
De La Rosa said she, like others on board, worried during the deployment after hearing about the March fire and intermittent sewage problems that at times shut down toilets. “Honestly, I think deployments should be no more than seven months,” she said. “Almost a year out to sea is very depressing. Especially the plumbing issues, the fire — it was very, very low morale for everybody, so I know everybody’s glad to be home.”
Following the homecoming, the carrier sailed to Norfolk Naval Shipyard for scheduled maintenance.