Key Homecoming (Navy) Traditions Include:

• The First Kiss / First Hug: Ships often hold a raffle for deployed sailors. The winner gets the honor of being the first person down the brow (the gangway) to embrace or kiss their significant other or family before the rest of the crew is dismissed.
• Nautical Leis: Families and friends often make custom, oversized handmade leis out of utility rope, plastic tablecloths, and patriotic decorations to place around the returning sailor’s neck.
• Handmade Signs and Banners: Loved ones gather on the pier or in hangars holding personalized, humorous, and emotional bedsheets or cardboard signs counting down the exact months or days apart.
• Tiger Cruises: On select final legs of a deployment, friends and family members embark for a short segment of the voyage to experience life at sea before pulling into the official homeport together.

The Arrival Process:

• The Brow Coming Down: The ship pulls into port, secures the moorings, and lowers the brow (gangway).
• Formal Protocol: Command remarks and brief official formalities occur before the crowds are finally allowed their long-awaited reunions.
• Decompression: Community groups note that while homecomings are intensely joyful, families are encouraged to give returning sailors a bit of quiet space to transition back from crowded ship life.