CO’S Holiday Message Capt. Lloyd B. Mack
Happy Holidays at NAF Atsugi! I hope you enjoy this special holiday edition of Skywriter where we’ve captured the most memorable moments from 2018 for Naval Air Facility Atsugi. As we review the passing year, I hope you’ll join me in celebrating the events and achievements for which all of us can be justifiably proud! Of course, I want to take the opportunity to wish everyone in the NAF Atsugi family, from our tenants to our JMSDF partners the best of holidays and a happy new year. Everyone on NAF Atsugi deserves a holiday “pat on the back” for all of our endeavors of 2018 as we look forward to a new year with the promise of even greater accomplishments to come. 2018 has certainly been a challenging year, but one in which we initiated new communication initiatives with two goals in mind: to better and more efficiently communicate base happenings, and to develop a greater sense of unity. I’ve appreciated the opportunity to join most of you at our various Town Halls and ombudsmen meetings so that – together – we can identify, address and – whenever possible – solve the challenges we face on base. I believe the NAF Atsugi Team will continue to advance one of my top priorities – customer service – in the months to come as we continue developing a future for this important forward base, to advance service to our families and our tenants and, of course, our continued support for fleet operations. We’ve seen some dramatic changes already: bidding farewell to some components of Carrier Air Wing Five, which in turn had some impacts on our base services. Despite the impacts, I am impressed with the strength of our NAF Atsugi family when faced with some adversity as well. During several weather incidents, from snowfalls to numerous typhoons, we banded together first to prepare and then to recover from these events. You remained steadfast and continued to understand and support the upkeep and restoration of the community services we all depend on. As always, we owe our thanks to Public Works, Security, Housing, MWR, Navy Exchange, the Commissary, Emergency Management, IT, and, of course, our leadership support teams for keeping our base our home. Let’s welcome 2019 with a renewed sense of commitment to the NAF Atsugi family. For base service providers – let’s renew our commitment to quality customer service to our residents, tenants, and squadrons. For our families, let’s remain proud ambassadors for the United States while we live in this wonderful host country of our most important ally. Let’s ring in 2019 with the purpose of supporting each other, keeping ourselves healthy, and always providing our best to our customers in the fleet. Again, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!
Public Affairs Officer Howard Samuelson Assistant Public Affairs Officer Teal Yost Leading Chief Petty Officer MCC (SW) Ben Farone Editor MC2 (SW) Michael Doan Contributing Photography
MCC (SW) Ben Farone MC2 Matthew Duncker MC2 (SW) Michael Doan
Host Nation Relations Masako Takakura Sumie Maruyama Ikumi Tanaka
Webmaster Noriko Yamazaki Facebook.com/naf.atsugi Youtube.com/NAFAtsugi
@NAFAtsugiJP
ONLINE
ON THE COVER NAVAL AIR FACILITY ATSUGI’S COMMAND LOGO IS SEEN ON REID FIELD AT NIGHT. (PHOTO BY MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST 2ND CLASS MICHAEL DOAN)
CMC’s Holiday Message Command Master Chief Daniel Irwin
Shipmates, as we flip another calendar page and 2018 comes to an end, I’d like to reflect on the many successes we’ve shared and pass on to you and your families, my heartfelt wishes for a joyous holiday season and a prosperous new year. This year’s final edition of our command magazine contains brief snapshots of the tremendous accomplishments you’ve made over the last twelve months. Though I’ve only been here for six of those, I’ve been truly overwhelmed by the contributions you make to our Navy and the community, both inside and outside the fence line. Everyone I’ve come into contact with since reporting aboard has been nothing short of a consummate professional. Each and every day you’ve tackled the many unique challenges we face being stationed in the Forward Deployed Naval Forces without missing a beat. Just this year, we welcomed dozens of distinguished visitors, including the Secretary of the Navy, hosted five State of the Base town hall meetings and facilitated the relocation of six fixed wing squadrons from NAFA to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni. We also demonstrated our leadership and commitment to the region through our robust community engagement program. We reached out locally, as we do each month, to help maintain the area surrounding Yamato station, and we twice travelled four hours north to assist our friends from Tomioka town who are still reeling from 2011’s Great East Japan Disaster. We also held food drives, toy drives and language exchanges to name a few. We can’t highlight our many accomplishments without mentioning the contributions of our Japanese partners. From our shipmates in the JMSDF, to our dedicated MLC/IHA workforce professionals, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do without their support and leadership. In a time of heightened tensions and greater attention on our forces in the Indo-Pacific, everyone here at NAFA has performed brilliantly as ambassadors of the United States and our nation’s Navy. I ask everyone to continue to do what you’ve always done; take care of yourselves and look out for those on your left and right. With everything mentioned above, it’s no surprise that we’ve achieved the level of success we enjoyed in 2018. Few things make me as proud as recognizing the outstanding achievements of our Sailor and civilian team. Thank you for all you do. I have no doubt we’ll continue this trend and look forward to what lies ahead in 2019!
2018 Year in Review We are happy to showcase the history of NAF Atsugi through a collection of photos that the public affairs office has taken during the course of 2018. As this year comes to a close we wish you happy holidays. We will see you next year! If you have questions or comments on this or any issue of Skywriter, let us know at: skywriteratsugi@gmail.com.
2018 Skywriter Year in Review Photo Contest Winners
Opposite page: 1st place “Kawaguchiko” by Beth Schleusener.
Above: 2nd place “Cherry Blossoms” by Amber Irvine.
To the right: 3rd place “Hokokuji Bamboo Forest Kamakura” by Beth Schleusener.
FAVORITE PHOTOS FROM MCC Ben Farone
MC2 Matthew Duncker
MC2 Michael Doan
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE The image I chose as my favorite from 2018 is a composite of images shot in similar locations on Iwo To. The top image is a black and white photo of U.S. Marines from the 5th Marine Division, taken during the initial invasion of the Battle of Iwo Jima Feb. 19, 1945. That image is superimposed over an image I took in roughly the same location during our annual CPO Initiation trip to the island on Aug. 29, 2018. I’ve shot photos in Iwo To a few times before and this time I wanted to do something a bit different to to try to capture the gravity of what took place there during the battle.
The reason I chose this photo of AWR1 Kelvi Bonanofeliciano as my favorite photo of the past year is simply how it shows his focus and readiness while participating in even a routine photo exercise over Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka.
This is my favorite photo I have taken this year. This was during NAF Atsugi’s open base event ‘Bon Odori’ and I always love seeing interactions between our base and the surrounding communities. It is not a photo that you can plan to take. You have to be in the right place at the right time.
2016