USS Austin (LPD-4) 2002-03 FP Cruise Jacket

In the charged months of 2002 and early 2003, as the United States prepared for Operation Iraqi Freedom, USS Austin (LPD-4) was deployed and ready. Her 2002–03 cruise took her through the Mediterranean, where an amphibious transport dock was built for exactly this kind of moment—projecting power, moving Marines, and making clear that America could put forces ashore whenever and wherever it chose. For the crew on that cruise, it was high-stakes work in the shadow of a nation at war.