By Joe Schmitt, Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka Public Affairs
YOKOSUKA, Japan (NNS) -- Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka's (CFAY) Command Master Chief (CMC) spoke with Japanese spouses of military service members aboard the facility, April 6.
CMC Gregory A. Vidaurri spoke about how the base is responding to the effects of the March 11, earthquake and tsunami that struck northern Japan.
"Communication is key in any event that ever happens," said Vidaurri. "And when you are communicating any type of message, any time you are able to stand up in front of people and address their concerns, that return investment is huge. I know these spouses are going to leave this event and go tell their friends. They aren't going to have to read it in an e-mail. They are not going to get it second hand. They are going to get it first hand right here today. That's why town hall meetings or discussion groups where we can have senior leadership on a base come and sit down with particular target groups really pays a lot of dividends for us."
Rie Coyne works at the CFAY Fleet and Family Support Center (FFSC) and volunteered to coordinate the event.
"At this time, after the voluntary departure had started, I ran into a lot of people who were confused and not knowing anything because everything was provided in English, and their husbands were out to sea," said Coyne.
Many of the spouses speak English as a second language and did not get all the same information that their native English speaking counterparts were receiving. FFSC teamed up with the Japanese Spouse Group to get the event for these spouses organized. Coyne translated the meeting so everyone understood what was being discussed.
"I was able to get the first group together to meet, and we told them that they are not alone, we are in this together," said Coyne. "So, we then asked if the CMC could come, and now we feel so much better."
After Coyne gave a few opening remarks she turned the event over to Vidaurri who started taking questions from the group.
Some of the topics covered in the meeting were information sources, medical care, infant and children concerns, rolling black out schedules, school schedules, passport applications and many others. Vidaurri stayed to answer all the questions the group had until there were no more raised hands.
"I really appreciate that the military is helping Japan," said Reina Bay, who helped with the event and asked a few of her own questions. "I feel safe living on base but after these things happened there were so many rumors and it was really confusing, but now I feel OK."
Coyne said as more news comes out in the future, she will try to plan more meetings for Japanese spouses to continue to get information from the base and the commands that operate there.
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