"FAIR WINDS AND FOLLOWING SEAS" are the final words of farewell from the Recruit Training Commander of the United States Navy to graduating recruits, among whom in 1990 was Trinidadian- born, Sean Louis Taitt.
Little did SK 2 Sean Taitt know that the winds and seas which followed would become extremely rough, first in 2000 when the "USS COLE EDG 67" on which he was a crew member, was bombed by terrorists in Yemen where the vessel was being refuelled. And again on September 11, 2001, when a commercial aircraft was used by terrorists to destroy part of the Pentagon where he was on desk duty.
On September 19, 2001, eight days after the bombing of the Pentagon, a distraught Trinidadian mother, Glenda Taitt-Goddard of St James, received this e-mail from her eldest son: "Again I was in the chaos of the Pentagon bombing, the plane flew right over the south wing of my building crashing into the Pentagon, we immediately evacuated our building and a handful of us ran down to the pentagon to help the survivors as they came out of the building burned and overcome by smoke."
At first, Sean says that he became paranoid, then scared. Not surprising, since the 32 year old Trini had been seriously injured on the "COLE" on October 12, 2000, not to mention that he had also been part of the Gulf War in 1991 aboard the "USS FORRESTAL ASVT 59." "He assured me then that he was never in the firing line in the war with Sadam, but was there as part of the communications section sending messages etc" explains Glenda.
Sean's e-mail on September 19 assured his mother and family that in spite of his initial scare "God gave me the strength to run down to the Pentagon which is just two blocks away. I did not leave the area until 8 p.m. that night helping, but I was safe and I am okay." Up to the present time, Sean continues at the Pentagon where he is helping to identify the unaccounted personnel that remains buried in the concrete so that families can be notified.
The past student of Richmond Street Boys, Belmont Intermediate and Mucurapo Senior Comprehensive, migrated to the United States eleven years ago and immediately joined the Navy. "He had always liked groups like cubs and scouts" says Glenda who explained her son's choice of career this way: "My great great grandfather and my grandfather both served in World Wars 1 and 11, and my father was in the army, the police force and fire services here."
At the end of the Gulf War, Sean took two years off and went to school and did a hairdressing course with cosmetology in Washington: "He had always been cutting his friends' hair" chuckles Glenda "got married and moved to Maryland, Baltimore." At the end of two years, Sean's yearning for the sea, brought him the USS COLE assignment, but he was forced to spend four years on the ship on dry dock before sailing for Yemen in August 1999. After only two months on the vessel the bombing occurred.
Glenda, who was completely taken care of by the United States Military when her son lay injured in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Berlin, Germany, after the COLE incident, is full of praise for the manner in which the Americans handled arrangements to get her son's parents and wife to Germany with minimum confusion. "My heart was in my mouth as all they would tell me at this end is that he was alive, I did not know what I was going to meet. After two days in Germany, where nothing more could be done, we were all sent by military plane to Virginia. Surgery to the damaged leg followed at Bethseda Hospital where the ligaments which had been completely destroyed were artificially replaced. The young Storekeeper 2 had also lost his hearing, damaged his lungs and ribs, all of which have been fixed.
It was time for a desk job since a restless Sean was not yet fit to return to active duty, and so he was assigned to the Pentagon in mid- July 2001.
Life is still going apace for Officer Taitt, who on October 12, 2001, was presented with an award marking the anniversary of the bombing of the USS COLE. He has no intention of leaving the Pentagon or the navy, and has gone back to school to learn to be a Navy Chief - these are the men who take care of guests of the Navy, like his parents were after he was injured on the COLE.