In April 2001 , VFA-87 deployed on a Persian Gulf cruise enforcing the no fly zone over Southern Iraq aboard until the September 11 attacks occurred . The squadron was then held on station along with the entire '' Enterprise '' battle group , to conduct first strike combat missions over Afghanistan against embedded Taliban targets . VFA-87 returned to NAS Oceana in November 2001
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
VFA-87