; Whereas, on January 17, 1991, the USS John F. Kennedy launched its first strikes in Operation Desert Storm as part of a multi-country coalition to drive the military of Iraq out of neighboring Kuwait; Whereas, from the beginning of hostilities on January 16, 1991, to their cessation on February 28, 1991, the USS John F. Kennedy launched 2,895 aircraft sorties, which struck 114 targets, delivered 3,500,000 pounds of ordnance, and provided 11,263 aircraft combat hours; Whereas, on September 22, 1995, the USS John F. Kennedy was transferred to Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida, as the new home port of the vessel; Whereas, on November 1, 1999, the USS John F. Kennedy became the first United States aircraft carrier to make a port call in Al Aqabah, Jordan, and hosted the King of Jordan; Whereas, on September 11, 2001, the USS John F. Kennedy was called upon to secure the mid-Atlantic seaboard to “help calm a fearful and shocked nation”; Whereas, from March 11 to July 17, 2002, the USS John F. Kennedy deployed and launched strikes in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, and those strikes dropped 64,000 pounds of ordnance on Taliban and Al Qaeda targets; Whereas, from July 10 to November 20, 2004, the USS John F. Kennedy deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and launched 8,296 aircraft sorties, which dropped 54,000 pounds of ordnance; Whereas, on December 13, 2004, the USS John F. Kennedy returned from its 21st and final deployment; Whereas the USS John F. Kennedy was decommissioned at her final homeport of Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 23, 2007, stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on October 16, 2009, and lays in wait at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pending final disposition or the call to serve again in the United States Navy; and Whereas, from August 23 to 26, 2018, the former crews and supporters of the USS John F. Kennedy will meet in Norfolk, Virginia, to honor the 50th anniversary of the commissioning of the vessel: Now, therefore, be it