On a mission in the Arabian Sea, the five thousand-plus crew on the USS Carl Vinson went about their routine work.
On September 11, 2001, Carl Forkner awoke to a pounding on his door. The intelligence officer, stationed just across the passageway, urged him to turn on the ship's television.
What Forkner saw was not a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster, but the beginning of a new era for the United States and its military.
“I said, ‘Was this like a showing of a new Die-Hard movie or what?’” Forkner recalled. “He said, ‘No, that’s really happening right now. Probably ought to get ready, get dressed. I’m sure we’ll have a meeting in the Captain’s Office.’”
Forkner, who served in the United States Navy from 1983 to 2011 and retired as a Commander, was no stranger to crisis. With a family history steeped in military service—his father an Army Air Corps veteran, his grandfather an infantryman in World War I, and three uncles who served in World War II—Forkner had long understood the weight of duty. But nothing quite prepared him for the events that would unfold aboard the USS Carl Vinson, the aircraft carrier where he served as Combat Direction Center officer and assistant operations officer.
In his role, he held the responsibility to defend the aircraft carrier and to direct the sailors who served below him to carry out that mission, no matter the cost.
"My guys controlled the combat air patrols around the ship, controlled the condition station of our weapons on the ship, worked with our Destroyer Squadron staff for monitoring all surface traffic around the ship, and my anti-submarine warfare guys monitored the symptoms of any potential submarines around the battle group, and then my electronic warfare guys were scooping up all of the (elec)trons in the air to see where they were coming from and whose they were," he explained.
It was something they trained on for most of their career, but now anything popping up on the horizon or radar could be a real-world threat.
“This is happening right now. We’re at war with somebody. Don’t know who it is right now, but we’re going to war,” he said, recalling his first thoughts as the reality of the attacks set in.
As the ship’s integrated training team leader, Forkner had spent months preparing the crew for combat and support operations in regions ranging from Korea to the Gulf. That training would soon be put to the test.
“We had already practiced what it would be like to operate in that arena,” he said, referring to Afghanistan, where the terrorist organization responsible for the attacks was based.
In the hours after the attacks, Forkner recalls the mood aboard the Vinson shifted.
“The attitude sort of changed, because now everybody was all business, no complaining,” Forkner said.
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He first briefed his officers, who then relayed the news to their sailors, who were already speculating on the next steps from information they too were watching on the ship's television.
On October 7, 2001, the Vinson and its battle group launched the first wave of Tomahawk missiles into Afghanistan. Forkner was on the bridge with the Captain and other senior officers as the operation began.
“A couple hours later, I was back down in combat, and we were launching the first wave of fighters and strike aircraft into Afghanistan,” he said.
Despite the high stakes, Forkner and his team relied on both technology and tradition to keep track of their air wing.
“Even with all of our technology and knowing who was okay and who wasn’t, we were doing the same thing with a Plexiglas board and a grease pencil to make sure all of our air wing got back,” he said.
He added that the USS Carl Vinson’s Air Wing suffered no casualties during 72 straight days of 24/7 combat flight operations. Morale was bolstered in unexpected ways.
The ship’s mess decks were covered with cards and pictures from schoolchildren across the country. Sailors lined up to chalk messages on bombs destined for Afghanistan—a tradition that, Forkner said, gave everyone a sense of participation.
"We had a rope area like you have at Disney World, that you could line up and chalk a message on a bomb that was going to be loaded onto an F-18 and dropped in Afghanistan. And the sailors loved it," he said.
Looking back 24 years later, Forkner said the memories remain vivid.
“I could walk on board the ship and just roll right back into my role,” he said.
As the nation marks another anniversary of 9/11, Forkner hopes Americans remember the unity that followed the tragedy.
“My biggest hope when people think about 9/11, and the aftermath, is that they remember that at that point in time, the country set aside its differences and came together as a unified America, much like after Pearl Harbor, and we took care of each other, and we were proud to be American, and we mourned those that we lost, but we honored those that we lost.”
Forkner now serves as the Adjutant of DAV Arizona, a chapter of the national organization founded by disabled World War I veterans in 1920 and formally issued a Federal charter by Congress in 1932. The organization and its chapters work to ensure veterans and their family members receive the benefits they've earned through their service to the country.
