"Abraham Lincoln" was in port on 11 September 2001. The carrier was put to sea on 20 July 2002 to support Operation Enduring Freedom. She took up station once more in support of Operation Southern Watch before taking a port visit to Perth, Western Australia. During this time, "Abraham Lincoln" was ordered to the Persian Gulf to take part in Operation Iraqi Freedom. This forced the Navy to extend "Abraham Lincoln"s stay from 20 January 2003 to 6 May 2003. The news of this extension was delivered to the ship's crew on New Year's morning by the then battlegroup commander, Rear Admiral Kelly, with the phrase, "We don't need to be home holding our loved ones, we need to be here holding the line. Get over it!" The term "Get over it" became the running joke aboard ship, which eventually led to a deployment patch made aboard that read "Westpac 2003 CVN-72 CVW-14 GET OVER IT" with an image intended to depict an admiral kicking a sailor in the groin.