By 4am on Thursday, with the sky still pitch black, 19-year-old Pvt Grayden Monroe and his mother had already arrived at the naval base, the first military family members huddled on metal bleachers overlooking the dark water. They were waiting for Monroe's 21-year-old sister to step off the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Monroe, a soldier stationed at Fort Campbell, wore his army uniform for the occasion. "I hope she's proud of me," he said of his sister, "and I hope she knows damn well that I'm just as proud of her."
As the sun rose, thousands of people flooded onto the base for the carrier's long-awaited return. The atmosphere resembled a festival, with a live band, performers on stilts, therapy dogs, handmade signs, and giant cutouts of sailors' smiling faces. People cried, laughed, and screamed with joy.
When the Lincoln appeared in the middle distance around noon, rounding the corner past downtown, cheers erupted from around the bay. Sailors lined the edges of the ship in uniform, waving to the crowd and making phone calls to loved ones. Below American-flag bunting, rust stains were visible on the sides of the carrier. The massive ship had finally reached land.
The USS Lincoln has been described as embattled after a fraught stretch at sea that kept it deployed for the better part of a year.