DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
With hats waving in unison, the Arrizon family of California greeted Fernando Arrizon and other military personnel aboard the carrier. From left are Christina and Charles Arrizon, Norma Jaureju, Angela Arrizon and Anna and Felix Melendez.
Pilot returns
with vivid
war storiesLt. Tyler Nekomoto is one of the
USS Constellation's 6,000 crew members
Jet pilot Lt. Tyler "Tatto" Nekomoto said the scariest moment of the Iraq war was during the opening salvo.
Nekomoto, 28, and members of his VFA 137 squadron made the first nighttime bombing runs from the deck of the USS Constellation into Baghdad on March 20.
"I think the first night of the war was the toughest," said the F/A-18C Hornet pilot, a 1992 graduate of Kauai High School. "They were shooting at you."
Nekomoto said that before March 20 he had only patrolled the skies over Iraq as part of the ongoing Southern Watch, intended to prevent Iraqi fighter jets from flying over southern Iraq. Rarely did U.S. fighters ever encounter Iraqi aircraft or missiles in the "no fly" zone, he said. But on the night of March 20 over Baghdad, Nekomoto recalled, "there was stuff coming up at you ... things I have never seen before: surface-to-air missiles and triple A (anti-aircraft artillery)."
The USS Constellation was one of three aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf that conducted round-the-clock bombing raids into Iraq with its 72 jet fighters. The Constellation was designated as the night carrier, while the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Kitty Hawk kept the pressure on during the day.
The Constellation's fighters flew more than 1,500 sorties, or missions, and unloaded more than 1 million pounds of ordnance, including 408 Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Yesterday, the Constellation with a crew of nearly 6,000 sailors and aviators, along with the cruisers USS Bunker Hill and USS Valley Forge, the frigate USS Thach and the destroyer USS Milius, pulled into Pearl Harbor for a five-day visit. The oiler USS Rainer and its crew went to Maui. The entire battle group will leave for home ports in San Diego and Bremerton, Wash., on Tuesday.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Tyler Nekomoto got a big hug yesterday from his happy mother, Doris Nekomoto. He had just gotten off the aircraft carrier USS Constellation, after it pulled into Pearl Harbor for a five-day stopover before heading home to San Diego.
The 88,000-ton Constellation is one of three conventionally powered carriers in the Navy and is scheduled to be decommissioned Aug. 7.
Lt. Wendy Snyder, Constellation spokeswoman, said that decision has not changed, despite recent reports that the Pentagon may keep the 28-year-old carrier in service because of the continuing war on terrorism.
The seven-ship Constellation battle group left San Diego on Nov. 2 with more than 8,000 sailors and Marines on a six-month deployment to the North Arabian Sea before being diverted to the Persian Gulf.
Nekomoto said he lost count of the number of sorties he flew, estimating that it could have been as many as 25.
"Most were over Baghdad," Nekomoto said. "That was 80 percent of the time. The rest of the time, we were helping the Marines. You work with a forward air controller, and they would give you the grid coordinates. ... That was the most rewarding part, helping the guys on the ground, hearing them out there asking for help and us giving it to them."
The Lihue native said he also remembers vividly a mission where he got a radio call from some special-operations soldiers. "They needed help or their mission was in danger of being compromised," he said.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Christina Arrizon gave husband Fernando a welcoming kiss -- it was also his birthday -- after he got off the ship.
David Nekomoto, a retired Navy commander who flew helicopter gunships in Vietnam, said he believes his son Tyler gained a greater appreciation of the role of the military.
"He knows now that the ground guys really take the hits, and he's up there to support them. They are the real heroes."
More than 50 members of the Hula Hui O Kapunahala halau, from the Nuuanu YMCA, were on the Pearl Harbor pier to dance and serenade the crew of the Constellation as they left the ship on leave.
"This is awesome," said Nekomoto as he was greeted by his mother, Doris, and then his father. Last night, more than 30 Nekomoto relatives gathered at Lau Yee Chai in Waikiki to celebrate Tyler's homecoming.
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