The waters in U.S. 7th Fleet bear little resemblance to the sands in the Middle East, but the veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom bring lessons from the desert to the high seas.

The 13th anniversary of coalition ground forces launching an incursion into Iraq to coincide with a "shock and awe" campaign occurred on March 21.

Acknowledging this anniversary honors the struggles and sacrifices of the men and women who participated in the eight-year conflict. Many of those men and women still serve, and several are aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Stockdale.

Ensign Christopher Brandon Morin was a Construction Electrician 3rd class when he deployed to Iraq in 2005. He spent his time establishing a forward operating base for the Iraqi Security Force near Rawah, close to the Syrian border. The base regularly received indirect fire (IDF).

Morin still remembers the bee-like buzz that an inbound 120 mm rocket made.

"The amount of time between the buzz over your head and the detonation is probably less than a second," said Morin. "All you can do is muster your guys in a bunker and just pray that everybody is safe."

Morin learned the importance of keeping cool under fire by first dealing with IDF several times a week and later hearing gun salutes for fallen soldiers. The experience of enduring hardship taught strength and a responsibility to pass that strength on to others.

"The most important thing is to take care of yourself and the people around you," said Morin. "In hard situations, the best thing you can do is to get yourself up and hold others up."

Chief Hospital Corpsman Katy Ivey was a Hospital Corpsman 3rd class when she first deployed to Iraq in 2004. She was with a forward deployed preventative care unit working out of Babylon.

She spent most of her time checking for cleanliness and clean water, trying to keep the base free from disease.

Though her experience lacked the threat of front-line warfare, she learned to look out for her unit like they were family. That lesson was reinforced during her second deployment to Al-Assad in 2006 with Marine Air Control Group 38.

"It hits home when you're working in the hospital after a mass casualty, and the Marines all sitting there," said Ivey. "Their whole team would come back to the hospital and wait on the guy getting fixed, to know if he's okay."

There is no gun fire across the bow of Stockdale, no improvised explosive devices floating nearby, and no mortars raining in, but the ship faces threats daily requiring a full team effort to fight.

"If you've been to a combat zone, you understand that there is a reason you clean your weapon every day," said Morin. "You keep the bolt and the action sliding smoothly, you never know when you're going to have to pull the trigger."

At sea, the ship is the weapon. It requires constant maintenance to operate smoothly, but unlike a soldier's personal weapon, everything aboard is crew-operated.

"We get caught up in the day-to-day because it's quiet, it's routine, its mundane," said Ivey. "We can think [preparedness] doesn't apply, but if something happens, all we have is each other and our training. When it's all hands on deck, we all have to be ready."

The lessons these Sailors bring from OIF are the importance of leadership, camaraderie, and preparedness. Regardless of setting, the best chance Sailors have of everyone returning home safely is to be prepared to do their job and support the person beside them.

Providing a ready force supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific, Stockdale is operating as part of the John C. Stennis Strike Group and Great Green Fleet on a regularly scheduled 7th Fleet deployment.

For more information, please visit www.facebook.com/USS-STOCKDALE-DDG-106 or http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg106/Pages/default.aspx