 USS Freedom, the first ship of its class, made a port call at Naval Base Guam as part of its eight-month deployment to the western Pacific. Freedom is a littoral combat ship designed to work in close to coastlines in areas too shallow for other Navy vessels to go. Now, the training that we've gone through has been quite extensive, assured in our synthetic trainers as well as on board the ship outside of San Diego. Doing the exercises have taken a lot of hard work, but we're all excited as a crew to be doing this deployment as main deployment. Freedom's crew will conduct a variety of activities while in port here in Guam, including resupply activities and community relations projects before continuing its eight-month deployment. Patrick Franklin, Naval Base, Guam.