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What’s Inside... Public Affairs Officer Howard Samuelson
Sailors Hard At Work
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Assistant Public Affairs Officer Mrs. Natalie Stamey Leading Petty Officer MC1(SW/AW) Barry Riley Editor MC3 Ryan G. Greene
Martin Luther King Day Page 7
Skywriter Staff MC3 Jason C. Bawgus MC3 Ryan G. Greene Host Nation Relations Masako Takakura Sumie Maruyama Ikumi Tanaka Webmaster Noriko Yamazaki
You Are Not Alone: Part 2
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Let's Learn Nihongo
CAPTAIN’S CALL
What do you do during your free time? Himana tokini wa nani wo shimasu ka? I like to read. Hon wo yomu noga sukidesu. Me too. Watashi mo desu. I like watching movies. Eiga wo miru no ga sukidesu.
Contributors MWR Marketing FFSC Commissary Public Affairs Navy Exchange Public Affairs The Tenant Commands
ON THE COVER
In this edition of Captain’s Call the commanding officer and CMC visit Fleet Readiness Center Western Pacific and bring you the latest news and updates from around the base. 2
Aviation Machinist’s Mate 3rd Class Rene Longoria tightens the screws on a MH-60R Seahawk helicopter rear roter outside the squadron hanger. Photo by MC3 Ryan G. Greene
NAF Atsugi CO’s Outlook on 2015 Happy New Year, 明けましておめでとうございます! (Akemashite omedettou gozaimasu)! It’s great to welcome everyone back from the holidays, rested and ready to tackle 2015. There will be a lot on our operational plates in terms of continued support to our flight line and fleet customers, as well as for the health, welfare, and safety of our base personnel and families. As we embark on the new year, let me quickly share my command goals for 2015. These are the foundation for the way we will conduct our business and ourselves as the year progresses: Quality Customer Service: Customer Service is more than a nod toward providing the services our customers need when they need it. It’s much more. It means devoting ourselves to the full and complete understanding of our customers’ missions and operations. It means remaining flexible, anticipating needs, and staying ahead of the service curve. And it means applying continuous internal assessments of how we provide our service to ensure we provide that service in the most effective and efficient manner possible. It means taking care of Shipmates and Families! Long-range Planning and Communications: Teamwork is essential to ensuring we network and coordinate effectively, efficiently, and in a timely manner among ourselves, other departments, and units onboard NAF Atsugi to make sure we are sharing information appropriately. It also means managing myriad events, operations, and occasions that happen throughout the year for a strategic, long-range picture of our operations. Oversight and Ownership of Facilities and Processes: Be an effective steward of the spaces, buildings, facilities and grounds under your charge. The better we care for these resources, the less time and money we need to spend on them and the more we can focus on other needy areas. Ownership of “processes” means knowing and assessing your administration – are we doing business smartly and in the most efficient way possible? If the answer is “no” then it’s time to reexamine the process to improve our outcome. Don’t settle for “we’ve always done it that way.” Know the “why,” and dedicate your team to improvement. Professional Development and Promotion of our Sailors and Employees: Without the professionalism and devotion of our military, civilian USCS, MLC, and contract employees to their positions and to our customers, we could not meet any of these goals. Challenge yourself to ensure that all employees not only receive the recognition they deserve for the services they provide, but to also ensure we provide the personal and professional opportunities to our employees that are needed to advance their careers and achieve their goals. Our success at achieving these goals is crucial to the safe and efficient operation of everything we do onboard NAF Atsugi. I can’t think of a better team to accomplish these goals than the personnel onboard the NAF Atsugi team. Best wishes for a happy and prosperous new year! 3
The Sailors aboard Naval Air Facility Atsugi are hard at work, maintaining and repairing aircraft, helping to Keep our planes and helicopters flying everyday. for 63 years the united states has upheld its responsibilities and helped to safeguard the pacific while providing peace and stability in the region. 4
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Credentialing Available for Both Navy and Marine Corps Under DoN COOL Col. Lee Ackiss, deputy branch head for personal and professional development, Marine and Family Programs Division, Headquarters Marnie Corps, said that the addition of Marine COOL will add significant value for many Marines. “A credential is that symbol, that certificate that really validates and gives true value to their MOS training,” said Ackiss. “It is something that a civilian employer immediately recognizes. Translating the expertise and performance of our military occupational specialties, COOL identifies the opportunities for that representation, in a credential, of what the civilian workforce desires of our well-qualified professionals.” According to Keith Boring, program manager for the Navy Credentials Program Office, professional credentialing acts as an integral part of the Services’ Enlisted Learning and Development Strategy. “COOL helps recruiters sell Navy and Marine Corps careers; it improves advancement opportunities and helps motivate our best Sailors and Marines to stay inservice” said Boring. “By improving force readiness through initiatives like COOL, we’re presenting Sailors and Marines with another key to career success that will benefit them while they’re in the service and beyond.” Boring added, though it isn’t the purpose of the Navy’s credentialing program to be used solely as a component of transition, earning an industry recognized certification or license may provide a key factor toward a successful transition from Sailor to civilian employee. Michael Talley, assistant program manager for the Navy Credentials Program Office noted that joint development of a DoN COOL website enabled enhanced capabilities for both Navy COOL and Marine Corps COOL. “The COOL websites leverage data sharing, reduced developmental cost and meet Department of Defense credentialing program goals ... all at best cost to the government and its taxpayers,” said Talley. “The tight integration of the Navy and Marine Corps COOL websites is the key advantage behind our partnership. Both COOL sites mirror each other in styling, organization, and utility ... which provide users a consistent and familiar tool.” For more information on DON COOL, visit here.
Photo by MCSN Shannon Heavin
Story by Thom Seith Center for Information Dominance Public Affairs Office
With the introduction of Marine Credentialing Opportunities On-Line (COOL) to partner with the existing Navy program, the vision of a joint Department of the Navy (DoN) COOL is complete. DoN COOL provides a unique shared-entry portal for Sailors and Marines to access their service’s credentialing programs. The COOL sites are web-based hubs that consolidate information from numerous sources at the federal, state and local levels on certifications, licenses, apprenticeships and growth opportunities that correspond with each Navy rating and Marine Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) as well as enlisted jobs and occupations. Every Navy rating and Marine MOS has at least one associated professional credential. 6
MLK:
The man, the dream, the day... Story by MC3 Jason Bawgus
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is ‘What are you doing for others,” said Martin Luther King Jr., the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism during the civil rights movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in a federal and state law. King said that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice, and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. Following in the footsteps of his father, King entered the Christian ministry in February 1948 at the age of 19 after attending Crozer Theological Seminary. He was ordained at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, and in 1954 upon completion of graduate studies at Boston University he accepted a call to serve at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala. While there, King became an instrumental leader in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, made famous by the arrest of Rosa Parks. The boycott lasted more than a year and led to the 1956 District Court ruling that racial segregation on buses was unconstitutional. Heavily influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s success with nonviolent activism, King would apply these theories to his teachings and urge others to protest without the use of violence. He would go on to explain that man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. King believed the foundation of such a method is love. Over the course of his lifetime, King was arrested 30 separate times for his participation in civil rights activities. Although King spent the majority of his life preaching on the issues of social justice, empowerment, love and peace, which won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, his attention and efforts also included fighting economic injustice. On April 4, 1968, King journeyed to Memphis, Tenn., to help lead sanitation workers in a protest against low wages and intolerable working conditions. While standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, King was shot and ultimately died. In honor of King’s unfinished efforts, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established by President Ronald Reagan in 1983. The first observance was held Jan. 15, 1986, the anniversary of King’s birthday. In 1992 President George H.W. Bush proclaimed the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday would be observed every year on the third Monday of January. On Aug. 23, 1994 Congress passed the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday and Service Act, designating the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday as a day of national volunteer service. 7
Story by DOD News and All Hands Magazine
Due to emotional and physical abuse as a child, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Thompson, an instructor at a joint command in Maryland, grew up with suicidal ideations and attempted suicide as early as age 9. He joined the Navy in 1998 and is a mass communication specialist. He has battled with his depression throughout his Navy career. Warning signs: His supervisor and mentor of 11 years said he was a superior performer, but would slip up now and again. “He was always a phenomenal worker,” said Senior Chief Petty Officer Misty Hubbard, the Navy element senior enlisted advisor at the joint command, who has known Thompson for 11 years. “Anything that needed to be done well and quickly went to him, because he could perform like a champ in a pinch. He was always an incredible worker. Ninety-five percent of the time, he was No. 1, on fire... just an incredible Sailor [and] worker. But you could guarantee that about once a quarter, Thompson was going to do something stupid.” In 2012, while Thompson was working at the same joint command as an instructor, Hubbard said three events in Thompson’s life were the warning signs for her: he wasn’t selected for promotion to chief petty officer, he broke up with his girlfriend, and he missed a duty day. Another chief, who was an instructor and the drug and alcohol prevention advisor (DAPA) at the joint command in 2012, also noticed signs. “My first impression of him was that he always displayed himself as an extremely professional, intelligent, charismatic guy, but he started habitually coming to work late,” said Chief Petty Officer Herb Banks, now the leading chief for USS Theodore Roosevelt’s media department. “I knew something was wrong.” Banks said he pulled Thompson into his office to ask him what was going on and used his training to ask 8
certain questions to make an assessment. During this time, Thompson, at age 32, had every intention of taking his life. Intervention: After Banks’ conversation with Thompson and after Thompson had missed the duty day, seven Navy chiefs assigned to the joint command discussed during their weekly meeting how best to handle the situation. “We were hesitant to bring him in, fearing that we didn’t want to do anything that could negatively impact his career,” he said. “But at the end of the day, us being chiefs, we put our personal feelings to the side, and we did what we had to do. It wasn’t an easy conversation to have with each other, let alone with the individual, but when we say, ‘Chief up,’ we did, and did what we did for the sake of the Sailor. We were going to do whatever we could to keep this guy alive.” “We could have handled it strictly from a discipline standpoint, but we would not have resolved this issue,” Hubbard said. “We wouldn’t have figured out what was causing him to behave this way if we just handled it with paperwork and consequences. So we found a conference room where we could talk with him and not be interrupted.” On Dec. 7, 2012, the seven chiefs sat on one side of a long oval-shaped wooden table and had Thompson report in on the other side to what they had called a professional development board. Thompson called it an intervention. “I didn’t want an intervention; I wanted to die,” he said. “I had every intention of saying whatever I had to say to leave that room, because that night, I was going to kill myself.” Hubbard said the setup was intentional, because “Thompson is ridiculously intelligent, and usually the smartest person in the room. One-on-one, he can fool
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you. If he’s talking to two people, he can still do a good job of selling you whatever he thinks you want to hear. But there were seven chiefs in that room...’” Breaking through the wall: Thompson held his own in the beginning, Hubbard said, and started with apologies and accepting responsibility for his actions, but then the chiefs broke through his wall. “The end of it happened very quickly,” Hubbard said with tears running down her cheeks. “You could see him starting to get frustrated. One chief asked him, ‘Petty Officer Thompson, is there anything you actually do care about?’ and another chief asked him, ‘Are you thinking about hurting yourself?’ Thompson said he cried and finally admitted he needed help. “The chiefs gave me my life back, and I’m just now learning how to live it, really live it, with purpose and clarity, possibility and hope,” he said. “The intervention didn’t save Thompson’s life,” Banks said. “What saved him,” he added, “was his admission that he needed help.”
Each image represents a link to an official, or officially sponsored, military friendly source for getting the help you, or a loved one may need. Please do not hesiate to reach out. Support for families of service members who have lost their lives to suicide, contact the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, a 24/7 tragedy assistance resource, at 1-800-959-8277. For more information on suicide prevention and what you can do to help, please click the here and here. “I’m thankful that Thompson was courageous enough on the day of that conversation that he had with us chiefs to admit that he really did have a problem,” Banks said. “That is what saved his life. It wasn’t what any of us did. He let his wall down at that moment and said, ‘Yes, I need some help.’ That was one hell of a display of courage, in my opinion. As sharp as he was, as professional as he was, as smart as he was, and as squared-away as he was on the job, at that moment, he needed to take that wall down and ask for help, and he stepped up. And for that, he will have my respect [forever].” Thompson agreed. “I saved my life that day,” he said. “I had a ride to Bethesda, and that’s when it really started. I was relieved. There was no reason to lie to myself or anybody else anymore.” Help is always available. Contact the Military Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 (option 1), visit here, or text 838255. It’s free, easy and confidential, and trained professionals are there for you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For service members and their family members seeking non-crisis support, visit Vets 4 Warriors here. 9
NAF Atsugi December and January Yamato Station Clean - Up Volunteers
Photo by MC1 Barry A. Riley
AIMD: AT2 Bradley AS2 Carrillo-Alvarado AS2 Carrillo AD1 Chua AM2 Davidson AT3 Johnson AT1 Keese AM2 Lee AS2 Loaiza PR3 Paguirigan AT2 Prater AS2 Regondola ATAN Robinson
Branch Health Clinic: HN Hall HM3 Santiago
NAFA: YN2 Beswick Capt. Bushey MA2 Mack YN2 Ochoa Mr. Samuelson
CVW-5: PR1 Huricks
NAVSUP: ABF2 Lumawag
VAQ - 141: AME1 Bulan AZ3 Feliz-Ramirez AM1 Mey AZ2 Skinner
PSD: PS2 Cantrell
CFAF CPRF: AM3 Castillo AD1 Rosales AD2 Rosario CNATT Det. Atsugi: AD1 Carrillo AT1 Damm ETC Love ATCS Rexroth
HSM-51: Lt. Lawson AZ2 Mack
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VFA - 27: YN2 Allen AME1 Armstrong AT1 Brummerstedt AE2 Crawford AO1 Delacruz AT2 Feurer AD3 Groissl AO2 Husbands AO3 Jamilla AOAN Mitchell AZ2 Palmer AME2 Ruize AT2 Schipper AM3 Shoam AO2 Smith AM1 Tamayo LS2 Toure VRC-30 Det. 5: AMC Clark LS1 Cruz AME1 Hall LS2 Medina AEAN Salome AZ2 York LS2 Zagala
Liberty Center Hours: Sunday & Thursday: 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Friday - Saturday: 11 a.m. - Midnight Ranger & Halsey Gym Hours: Sunday & Saturday: 7 a.m. - 9 p.m. Monday - Friday: 5 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Kanto Plain Youth Stack
Come on out Sat., Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. in Ranger Gym for a speed stacking challenge! Signups are free for ages 5-18—visit the CYP Central Registration office in building 3250 or call 264-3588 with questions. The event will feature 3-3-3/3-6-3/cycle, a team of four timed relay and a parent double. There will be awards for three stackers and the overall tournament best time.
January Swim Clinic
Every Wednesday in January from 5 - 6 p.m. at the Ranger Indoor Pool. Training for an event? Or just need help with a certain stroke? Stop by the pool for some help with one or all of your swim strokes.
Wed., Jan. 28 6 p.m. Liberty Center
Join the Atsugi Bowling Team
Be a part of a championship team! Bowl six games on two of the above days to qualify as a base team member. All active duty personnel are invited to participate in this fun and competitive opportunity. Call 264-3790 with any questions.
Captain’s Cup: Racquetball
Rosters are due Fri., Jan. 30 with the coachs meeting being held Tue., Feb. 3 11:30 a.m. at Ranger Gym. All games are going to be held Sat., Feb. 7 at Ranger Gym. Please call 264 - 3619 for any questions.
Wanted: Tour Guides NAF Atsugi Tours office is looking for enthusiastic, well-experienced Japan tour guides. Call 264-3786 or stop by our offices located in Bldg. 978 for more info on how to sign up today.
Replay Tuesdays
Come to Skymasters Lounge on Tuesday evenings to enjoy Huddle Menu specials, draft beer and Monday Night Football 6 - 9 p.m.!
Les Mills Relaunch
Begining Thur., Jan. 22 at Halsey Gym BodyPump classes will start at 5:15 - 6:15 p.m. Followed by the BodyCombat class at 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Join us as we change things up and continue breaking a sweat with these two great Les Mills classes. Participation is free! For questions or more information, please call 264 - 3619
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