DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Petty Officer Tom Chavez greeted his wife, Petty Officer Tina Chavez, with a kiss yesterday as she returned from a six-month deployment aboard the destroyer USS Hopper.

Navy ship returns to
warm welcome in isles

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

Five-year-old Tempurance Ison could hardly contain herself yesterday as she jumped up and down on a Pearl Harbor pier trying to catch a glimpse of her daddy.

Minutes after his ship docked, Navy Petty Officer Patrick Ison swept his little daughter in his arms, and the two were making plans to spend time together for the first time in six months "swimming at the beach at the Hale Koa (Hotel)."

Ison serves aboard the USS Hopper, which has a crew of 300 officers and sailors. The guided-missile destroyer came home to Pearl Harbor yesterday after being deployed since April 2 as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

During that time, three babies were born to crew members' families, said Sheila Thornburg, who serves as the ship's ombudsman and link between the families and the crew.

DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Tempurance Ison, 5, waved a flag gleefully yesterday as her dad, Patrick, prepared to get off the USS Hopper. Behind Tempurance is her mom, Meosha.

"Communications were difficult after Sept. 11," said Thornburg, who has two children: Alex, 7, and Genevieve, 5.

"It was the first time their dad has been away from them for such a long time," she said.

After a bit of coaxing, Alex revealed that he was planning to give his dad, Chief Petty Officer Michael Thornburg, "a big hug and give him the stuff we got him."

Petty Officer Tom Chavez, whose wife, Petty Officer Tina Chavez, was on the Hopper, won the mid-deployment raffle giving him the privilege of "the first kiss" as soon as the warship docked.

Married for a little more than a year, Tina Chavez, a sonar technician, described the deployment as "long. E-mail and phone calls helped a lot."

"We all had our jobs," Tom Chavez said when asked how it felt to be left at home.

"Mine was to stay here and help with security."

During the deployment, the Hopper was involved in the filming of a four-minute movie trailer that was shown in theaters throughout the country on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Motion Picture Association of America imitated World War II-style newsreels using clips from the service members involved in Operation Enduring Freedom. The Hopper's crew was filmed as it boarded and searched vessels.

The only unfinished business for the Hopper involves its skipper, Cmdr. Ken Auten, who was cited for drunken driving just before the warship deployed in April.

The Navy said Auten, who assumed command of the Hopper on March 1, still has two scheduled court appearances.