An interview with rear admiral Mark P. Fitzgerald, USN former Commander, Carrier Group 8.

LCDR Epps: Where were you deployed?

RADM Fitzgerald: We deployed on 9/19, a week after 9/11, without any orders and headed over to the Mediterranean. We were stationed off of Egypt for an exercise. Then after the first bombs were dropped, we were ordered over and arrived off the coast of Pakistan and stayed there from 18 October until the 2nd of March, returning home on the 27th of March.

LCDR Epps: How did the timing of your deployment (right after 9/11) impact the tenor of your deployment preps and the actual deployment itself?.

RADM Fitzgerald: It was interesting. We had gone through a whole set of normal workups for our scheduled 19 September deployment so we were ready. But of course, 9/11 happened and that changed a lot of what we were thinking. First, we had to sortie a number of ships from the BG [Battle Group] to New York and off the coast of Norfolk ... then get them back in and one of those was the USS Detroit, which was our AOE [fast combat support ship]. We had to get her back in after supporting the sortied ships and prep her to get us back out for our trip. So there were obviously some huge logistical challenges ... really, the logistics were humongous ... it was tremendous, but I tell you what ... everyone left with everything we needed ... things just went great.

LCDR Epps: How well did the supply system support your operational objectives ?

RADM Fitzgerald: I thought the supply system did terrifically. We were supposed to crossdeck a number of items from the Enterprise BG; and a number of the items just didn't exist. In particular, we had to get a number of precision weapons ... a number of them had to come from the Air Force ... and all that had to be put together and brought out to us. We had very little time to plan the logistics. We had only two days' worth of bombs on board when we arrived so it was a monumental feat to get loaded out with all the things that we needed. It all came together beautifully ... truly what I call "Just In Time" logistics.

LCDR Epps: From your perspective, were there unique challenges during this deployment that were not adequately supported?