[Story to be worked by Sam on Wednesday the 13th]

NAVAL AIR STATION OCEANA, Va. — The strike fighter aviators who set records in strikes against ISIS began to return home Tuesday to a hero's welcome.

Carrier Air Wing 7 spent eight months aboard the Harry S. Truman, during which they reached the milestone of 580 tons of ordnance dropped in 1,118 pieces during 1,407 sorties, exceeding the weight and numbers dropped by all previous carriers in the war against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. the carrier Theodore Roosevelt during its 2015 deployment.

"With respect to these records, that's not what we were out there to do," said Capt. Dave Little, commander of CVW-7 who flew in with the "Pukin Dogs" of Strike Fighter Squadron 143. "We had a mission to do and we did it to the best of our ability and that is what we're proud of today."

The record setting aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, CVW-7 and the ships of the Truman Carrier Strike Group are set to return to Norfolk Wednesday. Carrier Air Wing Seven and the ships of her strike group are slated to return to Naval Station Norfolk today. 

The ships and squadrons and nearly 6,000 sailors of the Truman CSGStrike Group have been gone 240 days, nearly eight months, most of which have been spent hammering  ISIS. the Islamic State with record numbers sorties flown and ordnance dropped. The group originally departed Norfolk on Nov. 17 for an expected seven-month deployment, the last under the previous fleet response plan. The carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, which departed June 1 to relieve Truman, is the first carrier deployed under the new, optimized fleet response plan.

Truman was extended on deployment for an additional month to remain in U.S. Central Command as the Obama administration's escalated strikes in an effort to defeat ISIS.

That extension came after April 17, when Truman's air wing reached the milestone of 580-tons of ordnance dropped in 1,118 pieces during 1,407 sorties, exceeding the weight and numbers dropped by the carrier Theodore Roosevelt during its 2015 deployment.

The aviators who carried that fight directly to ISIS returned home July 12 to Naval Air Station Oceana, led by the "Pukin Dogs" of Strike Fighter Squadron 143.

Little, a veterans of seven homecomings, in his career said that it’s always amazing to launch fly off a carrier deck and land at home. 

"You see the U.S. coastline come into view and you know you are nearly home," he said. "That never gets old and actually it only gets better every time you get back."

Also, arriving home was Lt. Cmdr. Nathan O’Kelly, VFA-143’s maintenance officer who was greetedcreated by his wife Julie and daughters Molly, Hannah and Jae. They brought along Jett, a seven-month-old whom his father held in his arms for the first time. as well as new arrival son Jett, who at age seven months was put into his fathers arms for the first time once he defended from his Hornet at Naval Air Station Oceana. 

"The extension of the cruise was hard," O'Kelly said. "But what made it easier was the fact the nation needed us to be out there doing the mission — it's easier to take, when you have something important to do."

O’Kelly, who goes by the call sign "Yokel," will soon cross the 20-year point in his career according to wife Julie, who echoed her husband's sentiment about the cruise extension, calling it heartbreaking.  Likewise though
She said it's her feels it’s her mission to take care of things at home, so her husband can concentrate on the mission overseas. 

But O’Kelly also achieved a milestone on this deployment when he flew into combat for the first time. 

"It was very exciting when he called and told me that he was finally a combat aviator," Julie recalled.

A prior enlisted aviation electronic's technician, O'Kelly got his commission through the enlisted commissioning program and achieved his dream of becoming a naval aviator. According to Julie, he was debating whether he'd punch out with 20 years before the cruise started, she said. But now, he's decided stick around and shoot for command of a squadron.

"Yeah, I know that probably means more deployments and separations, too," Julie said. "But what he's doing is important."

About Mark D. Faram

Mark D. Faram is a former reporter for Navy Times. He was a senior writer covering personnel, cultural and historical issues. A nine-year active duty Navy veteran, Faram served from 1978 to 1987 as a Navy Diver and photographer.

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