Six years went by in what seems like just a simple snap of my fingers. The last time I boarded this magnificent destroyer the USS Milius, we were landing on the deck in a Navy helicopter as the the ship patrolled the Persian Gulf.

Only a few weeks would remain before tomahawk missiles would be launched from the warship, starting “shock and awe” and our war in Iraq.  Now this same vertical launch system and young sailors sitting in the same ‘Combat Information Center’ can do so much more.

As part of our Ballistic Missile Defense and AEGIS system, these sailors and those on 17 other Navy Destroyers and Cruisers, can basically knock almost anything out of the sky and we are getting better at it each and every day.

We saw this first hand as part of our exclusive report on the Lake Erie back in the Spring of 2007, when two threats were shot down by an SM-2 & SM-3 defensive missiles at the same time. You can bet THAT shocked rogue nations around the globe. Here’s our report at the time.

At 505 feet the Milius is now one of the older destroyers in the Navy. That too is a different feel from my last time on board, when the crew was excited about the 1-billion dollar warship as a new part of the American arsenal. In recent years the 14 year old vessel has added the Aegis system with the ability to launch SM2 and SM3 defensive missiles along with the Tomahawks.

For the 280 men and women on board, returning to home in San Diego is a nice relief from seven months in deployment, mostly in the Middle East. The waters here in San Diego Bay are a glistening blue, the sun sparkling off the the rippled water. The familiar gray Navy erupts from the water majestically mixing technology and might with massive warships. From this vantage point on the back deck of the Milius I can see another destroyer the USS Halsey, the cruiser Antietam, numerous amphibious assault ships and the new San Antonio Class amphibious transport the USS Green Bay, designed to deliver a fully-equipped battalion of 800 Marines.

No matter how cool or impressive the sight across, little matches what happens on every ship around the globe come 8am. Whether at sea, at home or anywhere around the globe, sailors stand at attention, our national anthem is played and the flag graces the aft of the ship…in this case waving gently in the warm San Diego morning breeze.