Palmer sailor returns home to daughter for Christmas

When Becky Benitez arrived home last week from an eight-month deployment aboard the USS Nimitz as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, she had a special someone waiting to see her -- her 5-year-old daughter, DesArae.

Benitez, a helicopter mechanic who spent a majority of the last eight months in the Persian Gulf, arrived home in Palmer last week. She got to spend Christmas with DesArae and the rest of her family before she has to return to San Diego, where she is based.

"Emotionally, it's a challenge," she said. "The Navy teaches you to be a tough person, but you have to have those sensitive feelings, too. When I left for boot camp was the first time my daughter spent a night away from me."

Benitez, who married a fellow sailor, Mark Benitez, last Veterans Day, enlisted in the U.S. Navy on July 18, 2000.

She was stationed in Virginia when the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks happened, an event that ultimately led to her deployment eight months ago.

"I was stationed to shore duty, so I wasn't worried about going right away, but then I got transferred to San Diego and kind of knew I'd be deployed," she said. "I kept telling my mom and dad not to worry."

Mark Benitez is from New York, and he too was stationed in Virginia at the time of the attack. A refueler, he is assigned to the USS Nimitz full time, and when the ship was reassigned to San Diego, he also knew it wouldn't be long before he was headed to the Persian Gulf.

"There was a lot of talk going around that it wasn't a normal deployment, and a lot of talk about other ships getting their qualifications to go," he said.

While deployed, the USS Nimitz provided one of America's biggest presence in the Persian Gulf. The aircraft carrier served as the headquarters for many bombing runs throughout Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"There are more people on the ship than there are in my hometown," Becky Benitez said.

Working on the ship requires forgetting about many of the amenities civilians enjoy. Even though the temperature was around 120 degrees, Becky Benitez said required attire includes turtleneck shirts and long pants.

"You would show up for work and within minutes be soaked with sweat," Mark Benitez said. "I'd drink 10 gallons of water a day because you sweat it out instantly."

After being stationed on the ship for 45 consecutive days, the sailors were afforded a "Steel Beach Picnic," which is a picnic on the flight deck, in civilian clothes.

The ship ported in Bahrain and Dubai, and Benitez said she was amazed at how modern everything was.

"There were stores like Wal-Mart," she said. "It's amazing because it's so different, yet there's a lot of similarities. It wasn't what I expected."

Once the nuclear-powered Nimitz got back to Hawaii on its return trip, Theresa Hicks, Becky's mother, met the ship and boarded, along with family members of many other sailors. The cramped living conditions were the first thing she noticed.

"I still can't believe they can live like that," said Hicks, who DesArae lives with. "The bunks are tiny."

Mark and Becky met while aboard the Nimitz, and they were married on Veterans Day, after the Nimitz came home to San Diego. Originally, Becky said she wanted a "big wedding in my mom's yard, wearing my grandmother's dress and all that."

She changed her mind and the couple drove to Las Vegas, where they were married on Nov. 11.

"It was the first time we were alone, off the ship, without our parents, and I said, 'Let's go,'" Becky Benitez said. "When we got there, it was like 1 or 2 in the morning, and we went to a 24-hour chapel, and it was closed," she said with a chuckle, "so we had to wait until the next day."

Becky and Mark Benitez arrived in Palmer last weekend, and they have been busy since. Last Sunday, DesArae was baptized, and the family was excited to get to spend Christmas together.

Now, relaxing at her parents' home in Palmer, Becky said she is looking forward to the future. She doesn't know whether or not she'll re-enlist in July, but she knows her Navy career has been exciting so far.

"It isn't for everyone, but I've got to see and do things I wouldn't have done," she said. "I remember at Palmer Middle School, Mr. Bills always talked about the things he got to do, and I thought there was no way somebody could do all of those things, but now I'm doing them.

"I've really been thinking about whether to re-enlist or not. The guaranteed work, the pay raises and the benefits are so good," she said.