{"id":63006,"date":"2025-07-13T19:41:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T19:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/63006\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T19:41:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T19:41:09","slug":"uss-the-sullivans-sailors-reunite-with-loved-ones-at-naval-station-mayport-after-8-month-deployment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/63006\/","title":{"rendered":"USS The Sullivans sailors reunite with loved ones at Naval Station Mayport after 8-month deployment"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. <\/strong> \u2013 There was no shortage of hugs, kisses, and happy tears at Naval Station Mayport Sunday morning, as more than 300 sailors from the USS The Sullivans finally returned home after an 8-month deployment. <\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>USS Jason Dunham returns home to Naval Station Mayport after 9-month deployment<\/a><\/p>\n

The air was filled with the sound of ship horns and the laughter of families reuniting\u2014moments that words can hardly capture.<\/p>\n

For Chief Petty Officer Maurice Robins, the homecoming was particularly special. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot see the tears behind [my glasses]. It feels amazing. I am glad to be back,\u201d Robins said as he held his 2-year-old daughter in one arm while meeting his newborn baby for the very first time.<\/p>\n

Maurice Robins returns home after a monthslong deployment and is greeted by his 2-year-old daughter while meeting his 2-week old newborn for the first time. (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

For many sailors, this was their first deployment, which they say tested their resolve. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to remember why you came into the service. There were times when it got hard to remember the why\u2026 People around you being strong and being strong for those beside you was what made it easy for me to stay strong, Lieutenant Junior Grade Nicole Diorio said in reflection.<\/p>\n

Others, like Petty Officer First Class Taurean Wong, have been through multiple deployments, but echoed Diorio\u2019s sentiment of togetherness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe value of working together with others really comes together. People come from all over the place. They have different ranks. You have to work together on a smaller ship like ours to get the job done,\u201d Wong said.<\/p>\n

USS The Sullivans returned to Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville on Sunday after an 8-month deployment (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

This deployment was particularly intense for Petty Officer Second Class Litzi Damian. \u201cI\u2019ve never been in a situation where we had to launch multiple missiles during the nighttime, throughout the day. It is going to be one of the most memorable deployments I\u2019ve had.\u201d<\/p>\n

The USS The Sullivans\u2019 latest mission took them across the Mediterranean and Red Seas, where they conducted several missions, sometimes with as little as 48 hours\u2019 notice. Their time at sea was extended by a month, adding to the challenge and anticipation of coming home.<\/p>\n

Commanding Officer Mathew Rechkemmer praised his crew\u2019s resilience and unity. \u201cEverybody comes from a different walk of life. Everybody has been in the Navy for a different amount of years. I have folks on board who have been in the Navy for less than a year who have seen stuff that I haven\u2019t seen in my 18 years. We are all experiencing a lot of things for the first time. We experienced it together. We boosted each other up together and we all came home together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Families gathered at Naval Station Mayport on Sunday to reunite with loved ones aboard the USS The Sullivans. (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Now, with the deployment behind them, the sailors are looking forward to the simple joys of home. For Chief Petty Officer Robins, that means \u201cplay dates, tea parties\u2026 I\u2019m going to have a little tea parties with my daughters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 There was no shortage of hugs, kisses, and happy tears at Naval Station Mayport Sunday…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":63007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,7310,1802,45083,5502,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,45084],"class_list":{"0":"post-63006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-military","13":"tag-naval-station-mayport","14":"tag-navy","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa","21":"tag-uss-the-sullivans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114847631628828137","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}