ABOARD USS INDEPENDENCE (Feb. 23, 1998) -- Hospital Corpsman Third Class Reggie Martinez, from Denver, CO, injects an anesthetic into the head of a shipmate while he prepares to stitch a head wound aboard aircraft carrier USS Independence (CV-62). Independence is forward deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Thunder. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate Airman Brian Hoosack.