NORFOLK, VA –
On October 7th, 2023, a turning point occurred in the Middle East when Hamas, an Iran Aligned Militia Group (IAMG) and designated terrorist organization in political control of the Gaza Strip, launched the largest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Hamas militants murdered over 1,200 people, injuring and assaulting others, and took 254 people hostage, including 12 Americans.
On October 19th, 2023, a turning point occurred within the United States Surface Navy when USS Carney (DDG 64), operating in the Red Sea, engaged over a dozen Houthi-launched drones and land-attack cruise missiles targeting Israel.
About a week later, at our monthly drill weekend, my Reserve Unit Commanding Officer notified us of “hot fill” opportunities for Active Duty Operational Support (ADOS) at Commander, Naval Forces Europe (CNE) and Africa (CNA) and Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet(C6F) in Naples, Italy due to the escalation of conflict in the region. At the time, I remember being surprised the personnel requirement originated from CNE and not Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT). Israel shifted from the United States European Command (EUCOM) to the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility in 2021 following a strategic Unified Command Plan (UCP) change in 2020. However, EUCOM forces, including 6th Fleet assets, still provide direct support to the defense of Israel mission. Upon learning of the opportunity to contribute to that mission at the operational level, I immediately called my husband and my civilian employer, a retired surface warfare officer (SWO) Rear Adm. and trusted mentor and received resounding support to volunteer for the 45-day orders.
I never served on a Fleet staff or stood watch on a Maritime Operations Center (MOC) watch floor, but I knew the billet of “Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) / Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) officer” at Commander, Task Force 64 was in my wheelhouse. As an IAMD Warfare Tactics Instructor (WTI) with a focus on BMD, I chose to depart active duty so I could continue to specialize in missile defense both in uniform as a reservist and as a civilian. My civilian job in the Aegis BMD Weapon System program office with the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) gives me great fulfillment, but given the circumstances, I wanted to learn and contribute my Aegis IAMD expertise more directly from a Fleet staff role, albeit a temporary one.
Another element that made me even more confident in my decision to take these orders was Commodore, Task Force64 (CTF 64), CAPT Michael Dwan. CAPT Dwan, one of the original IAMD WTIs in the fleet, was my husband’s Commanding Officer (CO) at the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System in Romania and is as fierce about taking care of his Sailors as he is about excelling in the mission. He is the kind of leader who makes you want to travel across the world to work for him.
By November 2023, I had served in the reserves for just under a year and was still adjusting to many new acronyms and systems. Fortunately, my unit chain of command provided exceptional support from the very beginning. When I volunteered for the 45-day ADOS requirement at the end of October, the administrative team processed everything quickly. To date as a reservist, I had only supported IDT and AT, so ADOS was an entirely new experience for me. After a whirlwind few days of submitting paperwork, and with guidance and support from my chain of command and my Navy Reserve Center (NRC), I boarded a flight.
When I arrived in Naples on November 11th, the check-in process was smooth. I was part of the second wave of reservists flowing in – there were over 150 of us in total. The NAVEUR Reserve Program Director had a lean, but efficient team managing a few days of command INDOC. Getting to know my fellow reserve teammates, I was amazed at the differences in our backgrounds – an information technician from NRC Houston whose civilian job is a teacher, a submarine commander from NRC Jacksonville who is a scuba instructor, an intelligence specialist who is a personal trainer – all coming together to support the mission. Many of my teammates were from CNE/CNA/C6F units who had previously done Annual Training (AT) with the MOC staff before, so their perspective and experience was invaluable.
Although not part of a NAVEUR unit, I was thankful and ready to join the team at CTF 64 since I understood their mission. The NAVEUR / C6F staff is unique in that they have a Task Force dedicated to Ballistic Missile Defense and NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defense. CTF 64 was established in 2016, primarily due to the implementation of the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA).
The EPAA was announced in 2009 as the U.S. phased contribution to missile defense of Europe from Iran, with phases including the establishment of Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Systems in Romania and Poland, a new variant of the Standard Missile-3 interceptor, additional land-based sensors in the region, and forward deployed U.S. Aegis BMD-capable guided missile destroyers (DDGs) stationed in Rota, Spain. CTF 64 has operational control of the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Systems in Romania (established in 2016) and Poland (established in 2024) and sometimes takes tactical control of Aegis BMD ships in the C6F AOR.
When I joined the CTF 64 team, I knew I would only have a little over a month to learn as much as possible about the MOC process. “Drinking from this firehose” inspired a sense of urgency to identify how I could strengthen my team and convinced me of the importance of “MOB-to-billet,” a training program that prepares Navy Reserve Sailors for their mobilization billets. Being able to fight from the MOC is something I didn’t fully understand until I was immersed in it, both in real-world situations and in exercises learning from the different components of the staff and the MOC training teams. It was clear from day one that the Levant region, at the seam of EUCOM and CENTCOM, would require significant support by NAVEUR assets operating in the Mediterranean.
With a kinetic maritime IAMD fight going on in the Red Sea on a near-daily basis, I saw an opportunity within CTF 64 to bring observations from the ships engaging in combat in C5F to both our staff and the FDNF ships in Rota. Having served at SMWDC Surface Warfare Technical Division, called IAMD division at the time, on my last active duty tour, I knew the members of their team were working to provide these observations back to ships and update their IAMD tactics in near real-time. As the threat continued to evolve, the CTF 64 team was eager to learn and brainstorm ways to adapt training for our C6F Aegis assets. With support from the CTF 65 team, my counterpart and I provided hands-on training opportunities for their crews based on near real-time tactics updates being used in the Red Sea. In early December 2023 I was given the opportunity to extend my orders and remain on the CTF 64 team. With the ongoing conflict in the region, I elected to remain on station until April 2024.
Deciding to extend my orders for four months was not easy. When I initially left for Italy, my active-duty husband and I had only been co-located in Dahlgren, VA for a few months after three years of geographic separation. However, he knew how unique this opportunity was and supported me whole-heartedly. In addition to doing meaningful work, the CTF 64 team treated me like a true teammate, not a temporary reservist. They included me in command and wardroom outings, made sure I knew I had friends I could lean on, and taught me how to get things done at a Fleet staff.
As weeks transpired, we balanced day-to-day operations, preparations for the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore system to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza as well as other contingency operations and applied real time lessons learned from Red Sea engagements against the Houthi threat. The staff completed Austere Challenge 2024, which brought a whole new contingent of reserve support and offered a massive learning opportunity about how a naval component staff executes the operational level of war. Conflict continued between Israeli forces and Hamas, but at the time, it seemed improbable mainland Iran would be directly involved in the fight. The CTF 64 team still worked to prepare in case those conditions changed.
On April 1st, 2024, the Israeli bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria which killed two Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps generals resulted in Iran’s leadership vowing retaliation for the attack. We ramped up our preparations for what was anticipated to be a multi-domain attack from Iran. And on the night of April 13th, we received notification the attack began – waves of nearly 200 drones and cruise missiles slowly made their way from Iran over Iraq, then Jordan, where the vast majority were intercepted by a combination of Jordanian, American, British, and French air forces before reaching their targets in Israel. As a focused silence fell over the watch floor, we saw dozens of ballistic missiles from Iran with impacts predicted for Israel. All teams were ready to execute the mission – the NAVEUR and NAVCENT staff teams, the Operations Specialists standing the IAMD watch, and most importantly the ship watch teams on-station. USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) and USS Carney (DDG 64) contributed to the successful defense of Israel against over 100 Iran-launched ballistic missiles.
My orders concluded about two weeks after the April 13th attacks, and I returned home to my civilian role at MDA. I was part of the data analysis efforts into Aegis BMD’s performance during the attack to determine what we could learn from the event. Embracing a warfighting specialty in and out of uniform was a uniquely rewarding and humbling experience. While at NAVEUR, I remember an all-hands reserve event with Vice Adm. John Mustin, Chief of Navy Reserve at the time, where he emphasized the importance of honing specialty expertise as reservists and translating that to our role in the “Fight from the MOC” mentality. That deeply resonated with me.
Since returning from Naples, I learned more about programs like the MAKO exercise series, where I’ve had the opportunity to provide operational level of war observations from the C5F and C6F AORs and learn from planners and participants about the critical role these exercises play in preparing Reserve Sailors to support the MOC in a potential future fight.
Since October 7th, 2023, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), bolstered by partnerships with the United States, European nations, and some Arab nations through strategic US Central Command partnerships, have made strides in defending their homeland against Iran’s Axis of Resistance – primarily Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. This fight to preserve Israel’s existence has been challenging for all involved and has taken a massive toll on those across the Levant region, as well as families of those involved across the world.
Houthi rebels continue to target U.S. Naval forces and execute attacks against merchant shipping in and around the Red Sea. As our adversaries evolve, we continuously adapt to outpace them. Our forces stand ready to confront and overcome threats across all domains with operational staff playing a crucial role in supporting commanders’ decision-making to generate, deploy, and sustain forces effectively.
Joining the Navy Reserve allowed me the flexibility to pursue a specialized civilian career in missile defense and provided the unique opportunity to use my skillset to improve the lethality of an operational staff. Supporting the United States’ contribution to our Israeli partners and our Sailors in harm’s way, as well as serving alongside friends who made far greater sacrifices that I did during my time at NAVEUR, has deepened my commitment to the Navy Reserve and strengthened my appreciation for the roles we must be prepared to embrace in a future fight.
LCDR Emily Hornberger is an Integrated Air and Missile Defense Warfare Tactics Instructor (IAMD WTI) and Reserve Surface Warfare Officer (1115) serving in the Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC) Fleet Training Atlantic (FTL) reserve unit, providing advanced tactical training to COMSECONDFLT and COMSIXTHFLT units and strike groups. She was an active duty Surface Warfare Officer onboard two Guided Missile Destroyers, USS MAHAN (DDG 72) as Strike Officer and USS LABOON (DDG 58) as Fire Control Officer, from 2015-2020. She earned her IAMD WTI qualification in 2020 and served her production / shore tour at the Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center, IAMD Division (now SMWDC Surface Warfare Technical Division (SWTD)) from 2020-2022. She transitioned from active duty to selective reserves in December 2022 and joined the SMWDC FTL unit at Navy Reserve Center Norfolk, VA. In the civilian world she is a federal employee supporting the Missile Defense Agency, Sea-Based Weapon Systems in Dahlgren, Virginia as an Aegis BMD Weapon System Program Analyst.