USS Cole to Return to Duty

By Charlie

NORFOLK, Va. -- The USS Cole is heading to the Middle East for the first time since a terrorist bomb killed 17 sailors aboard the Navy ship in Yemen's port of Aden nearly six years ago.
The Norfolk-based guided missile destroyer is one of seven ships with 6,000 sailors and Marines leaving the East Coast this week to conduct security operations in support of the war on terrorism, the Navy announced Friday. They'll be gone six months.

...None of the sailors who were aboard the Cole during the attack is still on the ship, Kafka said.
''The Cole has gone through an extensive certification process, and they are ready to deploy,'' Kafka said when asked whether the Second Fleet has concerns about the Cole returning to the Middle East.

The Cole was refueling Oct. 12, 2000, when an explosives-laden boat rammed into it. The attack, blamed on Osama bin Laden's terror network, blew a huge hole into the Cole's side.

One of the first casualties in the World on Terror getting back on the front lines is a big step. This is what America is all about, rebuilding and driving on. Next up, we should rebuild the World Trade Center, and return it to duty.

June 5, 2006 03:41 PM