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Wednesday, September 3, 2003
Former Deltonan finds life in Navy ‘shipshape’
By MARK HARPER
NEWS-JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
DELTONA — When President Bush swooped down from the sky, copiloting a Navy S-B3 Viking onto the USS Lincoln in the Pacific on May 1, many viewed it as a publicity stunt.
Not Brandon Baillie.
He was there, standing on deck watching. The Navy aviation electronics technician was among thousands of servicemen en route to the California coast at the end of a 10-month deployment. Baillie, 24, grew up in Deltona. This week, he is back visiting relatives during a leave.
“It kind of brought closure to our deployment,” Baillie said during an interview in his sister’s home. “It was an honor for him to come out there. It showed he really cares about the American people.”
Baillie, the youngest of eight siblings, is a native of Zion, Illinois. His family moved to Florida when he was 8, and he lived in Deltona between the ages of 10 and 19.
He graduated high school from Good News Academy, a private home school in Orange City.
On Sept. 11, he will have been in the Navy for five years.
His most recent tour on the Lincoln began in July 2002. Originally scheduled for a six-month tour, the crew stayed into May. Baillie and his fellow shipmates provided assistance in the tail end of the war in Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom, helped enforce the no-fly zone in Iraq, then provided support from the Persian Gulf during the war in Iraq in March and April.
For days on end, Baillie was part of a crew that worked 12 hours on, 12 hours off in the “shooter shack,” keeping aircraft systems operational. Baillie specializes in the E-2C Hawkeye, a plane that provides carriers with radar data from the sky.
During the war, air support crews scrambled to keep as many planes in the rotation as possible.
“You have to keep your head on a swivel,” Baillie said.
Life onboard the USS Lincoln was not as isolating as it might sound. Crewmembers have access to American television, e-mail and care packages. Capable of carrying 5,000 people and about 85 planes, the Abe Lincoln is like a miniature city where it’s easy for one to get lost, with lots of passageways that look alike.
As war approached, Baillie said he did not feel anxiety. Years of training had prepared him and his fellow sailors.
“In a way, we were taking a lot more pride in what we were doing,” he said. “Nobody freaked out. It was time for us to earn our money.”
His homecoming, from Bush’s splashy arrival to landing in port at Point Mugu, Calif., was memorable. No one on the ship lost his or her life and no aircraft was lost.
War hasn’t changed Baillie, he says. But he does have a growing appreciation for spending his free time with friends and family, enjoying life on land.
Baillie, who is divorced, is now dating a woman from DeLand. He plans to remain in the Navy for his career, having re-enlisted last year for a six-year term, and will be on shore duty in Southern California for three years.
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