‘Completely unbelievable’: US pilots say ‘traumatized’ by intensity of Yemen retaliatory operations
Sun 11:58 am +00:00, 14 Jul 2024 7 
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower
Press TV – July 12, 2024
US Navy fighter pilots have described as “traumatizing” their encounters with Yemen’s Armed Forces launching daring strikes on Israeli-owned and -bound shipping in the Red Sea in retaliation for the occupying regime’s months-long genocide against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The fighter pilots came home in Virginia on Friday after nine months of maritime clashes with the Yemeni military and their missile and drone strikes, in what CBS News referred to as “the most intense running sea battle the Navy has faced since World War II.”
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier strike group, which includes three other warships supported by squadrons of F/A-18 Super Hornets, was tasked with protecting Israeli vessels and US-allied warships in a Red Sea corridor that leads to the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean.
The carrier strike group left Virginia in mid-October last year but its deployment at the strategic waterway was extended twice following the escalation of Yemen’s pro-Palestine retaliatory attacks.
“Honestly, it was completely unbelievable,” Lt. Cmdr. Charity Somma told CBS News. “I don’t think anybody on board that carrier strike group was expecting that to happen.”
Commander Benjamin Orloff, a Navy pilot, told reporters in Virginia Beach that most of the sailors, including him, were not used to being fired on, given their previous military engagements in recent decades.
“It was incredibly different,” Orloff said. “And I’ll be honest, it was a little traumatizing for the group. It’s something that we don’t think about a lot until you’re presented with it.”
Crew onboard HMS Diamond shoot down Houthis drones over the Red Sea in January 2024. HMS Diamond sailed in support of USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. Click to enlarge
When asked by CBS News if what they faced could be described as the most intense naval combat since Word World War II, Orloff called the description “pretty apt.”
Underlining the severity of the Yemeni military’s confrontation with the US Navy forces, Orloff said, “This was not long-range projection. This was…right in our face.”
The CBS News also cited Caitlyn Jeronimus, whose husband is a Navy lieutenant commander and pilot, as saying that she initially thought it could be a “fun deployment,” and would be relatively easy but Eisenhower’s plans changed due to Yemen’s escalating strikes and “it was stressful.”
According to an AP report quoting American military commanders and experts last month, the US-led campaign to protect Israeli interests in the Red Sea has escalated into the “most intense” running sea battle the Navy has faced since World War II.
The report said the US Navy had been exhausted after confronting non-stop naval operations by Yemen’s Armed Forces, with commanders warning that the situation there is perilously dangerous for them.
Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the territory’s Palestinian resistance movements carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.
Yemeni Armed Forces have said that they will not stop their attacks until Israeli ground and aerial offensives in Gaza, which have killed at least 38,345 people and wounded another 88,295 individuals, come to an end.
The leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, has said that it is “a great honor and blessing to be confronting America directly.”
The attacks have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes.
Tankers are instead adding thousands of miles to international shipping routes by sailing around the continent of Africa rather than going through the Suez Canal.
That will teach them not to be so darned arrogant. From school age, when they swear allegiance to the flag in the classroom, they’re encouraged to believe they’re exceptional and nobody else matters much.
What a bunch of losers.
I completely agree Belyi. One lady thought it would be a fun deployment?? Possibly just shooting up a few stupid natives, I’d imagine, Well suck it up Baby.
I saw some reports a few weeks back that the Eisenhower was badly hit by Houthis missiles and had to leave the area pdq, immediately and with it’s tail between it’s legs. Maybe it was Alex or Alexander, can’t remember, so not sure who
Of course there was full media silence, mainstream and most of the “alternative” too. All “media” is controlled in some way I expect, all of it. Individuals are another matter but likely most of them too…
So I’m wondering if there were some real deaths, and some real damage, but that the spooks clamped down on talking about it. National defence and all that crap…
Theses bozos all sign on the dotted line don’t they? Official Secrets Act or equivalent. All military sign it I expect, including Brian Gerrish…..
So they can only allude to reality rather than report it
But their self-belief and arrogance will continue. The brainwashing has been so successful. (Plus fluoride, EMFs, chemtrails, dumbed down education system, Hollywood movies, captured media, and now the needlecraft – an almost never ending list of harm and manipulation.)
And then we have the British MPs swearing allegiance to the Monarch…..one chap is 22 years old, straight out of University, stepping into a enormous salary while still wet behind the ears….
In the eyes of the rest of the world, the US and UK must be more of a laughing stock every day
I used to follow a Youtube channel called Deer meat for dinner. Robert Arrington. Based in Jupiter Florida. a fairly wealthy guy , but doing things that mostly I’d liked to have done. Not everyone’s cup of tea I know.
One day, a USAF fighter jet flew over him at about a hundred or so feet. He stood upright and saluted, and said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, that’s the sound of freedom”.
I thought, “Dick”.
I despise the fake crap. Normally it’s our brave heroes, but most of the soldiers are teenagers crapping themselves. Murder and lies is what war is. In Iraq they used Shake and Bake named after a US food seasoning. They showered an area with white phosphorous, “Whiskey Pete”,(Illegal BTW) to get some movement, then obliterated it with high explosives. Falluja was a free fire zone, no restrictions. A guy about thirty came out of a building in only shorts. Hands up holding a white flag, he was after water for his parents. Killed by a US sniper. Possibly these are what they regard as fun postings, and it’s always been the same. Women are raped, people are tortured to death.
Somehow it’s not as good when they attack you. Who’da thunk it.
Everywhere the troops are posted, there are crimes committed. It is thought that the two little girls, Holly and Jessica were murdered by someone from a US base and the caretaker was the fall guy.
The guys responsible for the murder of Louise Jensen in Cyprus got off lightly. The Japanese and South Koreans have demonstrated against US bases. The list goes on and nothing is ever done about it because politics comes first.
I totally agree with what you say Belyi.