Hometown Heroes - Terry Traweek

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - Terry Traweek joined the U.S. Navy in 1988 after being encouraged by a friend. 34 years later, he’s now a Commander on board the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. He’s been all over the world and has served in Operations Desert Storm, Desert Shield and the Iraq War.

“When I was on a destroyer we launched Tomahawk missiles and take out some terrorist training camps in Afghanistan back right after 9-11,” recalled Traweek.

In August, Traweek and his sailors hosted 700 civilians on board the carrier during a “Tiger Cruise.” That included his stepdaughter and step-granddaughter.

“It was nice to show her what we do. What the Navy does. Hopefully inspire her to do great things with her life. Just to watch her smile and do all the things the Navy does. All the aircraft and things like that.”

“We got to see what they would actually do in action,” said Melanie Marler, Traweek’s 10 year old step-granddaughter. “We got to do some of the things they can do. It was very cool learning about how they did all the things to get that high.”

“Since she was a baby, she’s always wanted to be an astronaut and at first you say, hey okay,” said Jade Marler, Melanie’s mother. “You want to be an astronaut or president, whatever. But because she’s in Cub Scouts, she wants to strive to be an Eagle Scout. She knows that every person that’s ever been in space or on the moon, was an Eagle Scout.”

Traweek wrapped up his deployment on the U.S. S. Lincoln with his family on board. He will now be assigned to Chicago.

Copyright 2022 KPLC. All rights reserved.