VCNO "Listen and Learn" Tour Visits Hawaii

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Paul D. Honnick, Navy Public Affairs Support Element West, Det. Hawaii

April 27, 2010 - PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (NNS) -- The vice chief of naval operations (VCNO) made a stop on his family readiness "listen and learn" tour at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam April 23.

In the midst of touring facilities at area bases, Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, VCNO, along with his wife Darleen, hosted a roundtable discussion with regional command individual augmentee (IA) coordinators and staff at Navy Region Hawaii's Fleet and Family Support Center (FFSC) to discuss current family readiness issues and programs available to support Sailors and their families.

"We're looking at family readiness programs, we're looking at child care, we're looking at the family service centers to speak to those that work at these sites and their requisite fleet representation to see how things are going," said Greenert.

Greenert said that since the Navy's involvement with overseas contingency operations and with Operation Iraqi and Enduring Freedom, there has been an increased demand on the Sailors, which has and an effect on family readiness.

"Over the last eight years, we've been in these campaigns, we've migrated toward increased deployments and the time between deployments is getting less. It's more stress on the force, and so we are reaching to the support of these programs for our families so they can become better informed, so that they can be better prepared and so that they can be more resilient," said Greenert.

A challenge that the Navy faces today is the effects that an IA deployment has on family readiness. The group discussed what they are doing to assist Sailors with the process of going IA.

"We discussed the ability of our command IA coordinators to do their job. Do they have the right support, processes in place, policy clear, tasking clear and do they have the right tools to do they job. I think overall they said yes we do," said Greenert. "There are tweaks here and there, there are some things that are a little more inefficient, but I'm pleased and I'm encouraged by how our command IA coordinator program is moving."

Greenert dispelled a rumor that seeking out help is a sign of weakness.

"We discussed the stigma that regrettably exists in the fleet that coming over to use the programs at the family service centers indicates that there is something wrong," explained Greenert. "In fact, what we have over here are not just programs to help somebody who may be in trouble, but programs to help somebody become a better person overall from financial management to job placement, to getting a spouse job placement and to transitioning which is important for all of us."

Greenert stressed that there are many programs available to Navy families and all they need to do is seek assistance from the FFSC.

"Avoid self denial, if something isn't going right, go look and see if there is some way to fix that, to change that course that you're on, no matter what it is," said Greenert.

Greenert recently visited Navy installations in Southern California as part of his tour, including Naval Base San Diego and Naval Base Ventura County. Hawaii is his last stop on this trip, but he said he plans on visiting more regions in the future.

"I just want to thank to Sailors for the work that they do," said Greenert. "They're amazing folks that just take on the challenge and work on something that is bigger then themselves, but when you see the support element they have and how proud the folks that work at Fleet and Family Support Center are to support the Sailors; they're the wind under their wings in a way and they're proud to do that."