A message from Captain Sean R. Bailey —
USS ARLINGTON Families and Friends, please join me in wishing USS ARLINGTON a Happy 3rd Birthday! Today is the third anniversary of the ship’s commissioning when she officially joined the Navy’s role as an active ship. We had the opportunity to celebrate our 3rd Birthday in grand style with a dinner of Grilled T-Bone Steaks, Baked Potatoes, Fresh Rolls and plenty of fresh vegetables from the Resupply at Sea we conducted this morning. We followed it up with an absolutely tremendous cake finely decorated with a very life-like depiction of the ship, served up with real ice cream with all of the toppings you could want. The steaks were cooked up and the ice cream served by our terrific MWR representatives, who volunteer for these events to support the crew. I really can’t say enough about the hard work they put in to plan, organize, and conduct events that help to support a ton of morale, welfare, and recreation activities that the crew and embarked Marines really enjoy and appreciate. If it weren’t for their dedication and hard work, we would not have the work force to support many of these types of activities that really help to break up the routine and make deployments tolerable. They demonstrate a level of service that really goes above and beyond when it comes to taking care of their Shipmates and Fellow Marines. I am immensely proud of the ARLINGTON MWR Team and if your Sailor or Marine volunteers and is a representative, please help share my gratitude with them.
Today we had another reason to celebrate as we spent the entire day back operating in the Sixth Fleet areas of the Mediterranean Sea. We recently conducted a three-ship transit of the Suez Canal along with the rest of the KEARSARGE ARG and we are now back in the Med and expect to stay here for the remainder of deployment. The deep blue waters and cooler temperatures were a good reminder that we are just a little bit closer to being home and the excitement for our return is starting to build. While we are all looking forward to being home with you, we also keep our tactical focus as we continue to execute our daily operations and prepare for the challenges of any mission that may come our way in this theater. As always our priority focus is on returning safely home to you. V/R Captain Bailey
