Photo By Joshua Cox | Kathy and Marty Chanik, Fighter Squadron 84 (VF-84) fly-in, June 1991. Kathy Chanik...... read more read more
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In January of 1991 the Fighter Squadron 84 (VF-84) “Jolly Rogers” were deployed aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in the wake of Operation Desert Shield.
According to the carrier’s declassified command history from 1991, “USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) began 1991 four days into her deployment, transiting from the western Atlantic to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm.”
On January 15, 1991, the U.N. deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait passed, and the Roosevelt’s crew braced for the inevitable — a war with Iraq. At home, the VF-84 families also prepared for the difficult days ahead — gathering together to watch the events unfold on television.
“Watching the news became your life,” said Kathy Koster, a VF-84 spouse.
We all gathered at the commanding officer’s house and his wife said, “we're going to war,” Koster recalled.
“I don't even think we cried — I think we just stared at each other, because we didn't really know what that meant,” Koster said.
Leading up to the Persian Gulf War, the United States was involved in several conflicts in the 1980s, including the multinational intervention in Lebanon, and combat operations in Grenada and Panama. However, In 1991, the idea of a full scale war was new for many of the younger VF-84 service members and families.
Koster and other VF-84 spouses said cruises prior to the Roosevelt’s historic 1991 deployment were often met with excitement. The spouses would travel to meet their husbands in exotic ports of call around the world during the deployments. The Roosevelt’s deployment to the Persian Gulf would prove to be completely different and challenging for VF-84 and the families supporting from home.
“That particular cruise was, of course, the first time our country had been at war since Vietnam, and we knew that when our guys and our aircraft carrier, the Theodore Roosevelt, got over there the war would begin,” said Lisa Pruitt, wife of former NAS Pensacola commanding officer and VF-84 aviator Capt. John Pruitt.
On January 16, 1991, USS Roosevelt transited the Bab El Mandeb Straits, and on January 17, Operation Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm, the command history states.
January 19 saw the Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group transit the Strait of Hormuz and enter the Persian Gulf. That evening, USS Roosevelt launched her first combat strike of the war. Between January 19 and February 27, USS Roosevelt and Carrier Air Wing Eight would launch 3,897 sorties in support of Operation Desert Storm.
During Desert Storm, the families at home supported each other and passed the time gathering together, creating video tapes, taking photos of the children and making cards and care packages to send to their spouses.
The wives said they would write and send a letter and two weeks later they would get a response. The families had to number the letters, because sometimes the letters would arrive out of order.
Information about Desert Storm was on television and in newspapers and magazines; however, direct communication with the men deployed was a lot slower than it is today, Koster explained.
VF-84 families had to stick together and support each other during the war, and they all had to learn a lot of new skills to adapt to the circumstances.
One spouse recalled a storm which caused damage to the siding of the family home. She had never made repairs to the house and had to go to a home improvement store, purchase supplies and figure out how to repair the siding on her own. Another spouse said she learned how to replace a carburetor on a car while her husband was deployed.
With so much going on at home, the spouses had to remain strong for the family. The wives said they always had to make sure to be positive in the letters sent to their husbands because they did not want them to worry about what was going on at home.
Koster and the other VF-84 spouses said Kathy Chanik, wife of VF-84 commanding officer Marty Chanik, was the rock for many of the families during the deployment. Kathy Chanik always stayed strong throughout the endeavor and supported all of the VF-84 spouses.
Pruitt said two days after the war started, her and John Pruitt’s son Andrew was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at age 16 months.
“After the neurologist called me with the news that Friday afternoon, I made one phone call to one of the wives in the squadron and in what seemed to me like seconds, my then nine-year-old daughter was saying ‘mommy, Jeanne Daill, Kathy Chanik and Kathy Koster are here.’
They took care of my kids as I broke the news to my family in other parts of the country — they comforted me as I literally broke down and felt like I had been hit in the gut,” Pruitt said. “The three ladies who came to comfort, care and offer support that night will always be, in my mind, the kindest, most generous and loving humans on the planet. These three ladies, and others, continued steering me through the maze of medical issues; the commanding officer’s wife, Kathy Chanik, was a nurse and helped me immensely to make sense of all the diagnoses and prognoses that followed over the months, but also helped me find the support groups and programs for Andrew."
Sadly, last summer Kathy Chanik passed away unexpectedly, Pruitt said.
“I can only hope and pray that she knew how much I appreciated her guidance and friendship over the years,” Pruitt said. “The world lost a bright light when she left.”
In June of 1991, the VF-84 Jolly Rogers returned home after serving in Desert Storm and Operation Provide Comfort and the friendships and memories would remain intact 30 years later.
In April, VF-84 veterans and their spouses from the Desert Storm era visited NAS Pensacola, spending quality time with each other and recounting memories from the deployment. The spouses all agreed the endeavor bound the families together for life, and the Jolly Rogers of 1991 proved to be a very special group.
“We have never had a squadron be so much fun and so tight-knit,” Pruitt said of her longtime friends.
| Date Taken: | 05.06.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 05.06.2022 11:43 |
| Story ID: | 420141 |
| Location: | PENSACOLA, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 567 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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