August 2008
From “The Bridge”
Dear Family and Friends of FITZGERALD, It has been my distinct honor to relieve CDR Daniel Dusek as Commanding Officer of USS FITZGERALD. I am humbled to have the opportunity to command this fine warship. As a Commanding Officer, I will be committed to the personal and professional development of each man and woman aboard. I foresee an extended ship’s family, to include crewmembers families, friends, former crewmembers, and interested citizens who will be welcomed to selected ship events and informed of day-to-day operations. I will make every effort to use advances in technology to not only improve our military capability, but also to improve our ability to communicate with families at home. I will use this forum as a way to key you informed of all your loved ones outstanding accomplishments. I am blessed with a wonderful wife and three terrific children. This is our first time in Japan and we could not be happier. On behalf of Janine, my sons Richard and Robert, and my daughter Erin, I thank you for welcoming us so warmly to the FITZGERALD family!
November proved to be an extraordinarily busy month for the Warriors of FITZGERALD. With a successful repair availability period behind us we headed to sea to test systems and equipment. Each Warrior’s skill and professionalism enabled FITZGERALD to once again be ready for operational tasking. On this note, I wish to thank you the families, friends and supporters of our crew in advance for the flexibility that will be required as FITZGERALD is once again on call support missions throughout the 7th Fleet area of responsibility. I truly appreciate the support each of you provides to these Warriors; it cements our mission readiness and resolve. The winter holiday season is a time for reflection and celebration. Janine and I want you to enjoy the upcoming holidays-all of you deserve it. Whether you stay local or travel back home in the United States or abroad consider the risks involved with all of your holiday activities. Each of you is a critically important member of the FITZGERALD team. I ask you to set the example, protect yourself and each other. Gratefully, CDR Richard Dromerhauser, USN
From the Command Master Chief
Happy Holidays! Enjoy this time with your loved ones and please be safe! The FRG will have a children’s Christmas party on 13 DEC 1600-1800 at the Shobu Heights party room. Don’t forget the command Christmas party on 15 December at the New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo. It is all paid for and transportation has been arranged! Once the holiday stand down is over, expect the ship’s schedule to get very busy. Now is the time to verify your plans for when your Sailor is away for extended periods. Wills, power of attorney, bills and ID cards should all be discussed. Ensure you know how to contact the Ombudsman. The bottom line is communicate with your Sailor! I personally thank you, the FITZGERALD families for your support all year around. “Protect Your People” CMDCM Cole.
How We Talk to our Kids about Money Can Change Their Money Management Skills!
“I don’t have any money! I just gave you $20.00! Do your chores and you’ll get your allowance! Don’t worry about it, we are your parents, we will take care of the money! What I make is none of your business!” It’s not always easy to talk with your kids about money. Some parents think that a conversation about money, and family finances in particular, is inappropriate to have with a child. But how else will they learn the life lessons and skills they need? By preparing yourself, you can have healthy and productive conversations quite naturally, and you can bet your children will be interested. Young people view managing money as a symbol of maturity and independence. Discussing personal finances with them shows that you expect them to behave appropriately with money, and that you see them as capable and responsible. To help ensure a successful conversation, keep these tips in mind, and tailor them to the age of your children: • Approach the discussion with a positive attitude. Set a tone of confidence, openness, and trust. • Laughter always helps. Lighten the mood with a joke. Make the talk an equal exchange, not a lecture. Ask plenty of questions and listen carefully to the answers. • Don’t talk down to your child. • Don’t bring up old financial disagreements you may have had with your children. • Make sure your kids know they can always turn to you for financial advice, information, or help. Look for everyday opportunities to slip in money lessons. If you pay with a credit card, explain to your child that the bill will be mailed to you and that if you don’t pay in full, you’ll be charged more. Introduce the concept of taxes when garbage collectors pick up your trash, by explaining that you have to give money to the government to pay for those kinds of services. Allow younger children to count out change or carry coupons. Be sure to keep your comments short; otherwise, your kid will just tune out the message. Be ready to talk about the tough topics. Parents need to answer questions that kids ask, even when the answer isn’t easy or comfortable. “Are we rich? How much did this house cost? Why can’t I spend my allowance on anything I want? Why don’t we take vacations to Europe every year? Why don’t we buy a new car every year?” Kids ask questions about money and parents should be able to answer them. Explore why they’re asking this question right now. A great way to get financial conversations going with your kids is to involve them in some of your family’s typical financial matters: • Plan vacation budgets or major-purchase payment plans. • Budget for groceries and other necessities. • Clip and use coupons. • Pay your family’s monthly bills. • Balance the checkbook against your monthly statement. • Comparison shop for lower prices. • Review your credit card statement together. Finally, learn to use the phrase “It’s not in our budget.” By using this phrase when your children ask for money you are telling them that you: a) have a plan in place, and b) are going to stick to that plan.
Quality rather than quantity determine s your success.
Nomsa Sibeko-Brown 090-6161-1488
ussfitzgeraldombudsman@yahoo.com
Seasons Blessing To All from my family to yours! This will be the first that my family and I spend our holidays without one of our children who is in College in Georgia. Please cherish the moments you spend with your children because they do grow up very fast! May all of your wishes come true. These are hard times and a lot is happening around the world. Please be careful and take care as yourselves as you travel around. It seems like ages since I last spoke to you and so much has happened since then. We have gone through a change of command and while I was sad to see CDR Dusek leave, it has been my honor to serve as his Ombudsman. However, I am mostly honored to have been asked by CDR Dromerhauser to continue to serve as the Ombudsman, a responsibility that I take seriously. I pledge to continue being the best Ombudsman in COMFLEACT Yokosuka! Serving all of you is always my honor, please never hesitate to call if you have questions or concerns you need addressed. Please remember, when you call me in the evenings or weekends, the Ombudsman cell-phone does not receive reception indoors and therefore call me at my home number which is 0468-06-5765 or 246-5765. I recently lost my mother and I thank all of you who sent your condolences. I also wish to thank the Chief’s Mess for the beautiful flowers which they sent to my mother’s funeral in South Africa. As such, I know that for some of you, the Holidays tend to bring a sense of loss and sadness as you yearn for your loved ones who are in far of places, whether it be in America, the Philippines, Soviet Union, Africa, etc. For some, the Holidays might stir sad memories from your childhood, or remembering loved ones you might have lost at this time of the year. If you are one of those individuals, and you find yourself being unable to shake off those sad feelings, please do not suffer alone, there are plenty of resources in the community that you can tap into. You can reach out to the Chapel of Hope, the FFSC, Mental Health, Ombudsman, Military OneSource, and even your shipmates. It is best to talk about how you feel than to suffer alone or in silence. Please spend your money wisely. Plan your budget for the holidays and create a list and stick to those things on your list. The sales are meant to be enticing and it is easy to blow your budget if you have no plan. Be creative, you can exchange gifts of things that you have made which did not cost a lot of money but have a deeper meaning. Should you go overboard, again, seek out help with the your Command Financial Specialist at the FFSC, or Navy Marine Corps Relief Society. They have trained staff who can help you manage your finances. What is a Navy Family Ombudsman? The program has changed over the years to focus more on assisting Commanding Officers in the responsibilities for the morale and welfare of the command families. Who is a Navy Family Ombudsman? An Ombudsman is the spouse of an active duty member of the command. They have experience in Navy Life and an excellent understanding of Navy resources available to families. What can an Ombudsman do for you? There are two main roles an Ombudsman serves: Liaison between command and families, and Source of information to Navy families. Being a Liaison means that the Ombudsman links the command and the families. For instance, when a command is deployed, the Ombudsman receives information from command about the schedule and latest news concerning the status of the command. The commanding Officer utilizes the Ombudsman to disseminate information to families, and families are encouraged to use the Ombudsman to relay their concerns back to the command or other appropriate agency. The Ombudsman also knows how to handle family emergency situations and can refer the family to the right people in the Navy for help. If the command has an emergency or crisis, the Ombudsman will have the “official” word to share. The Ombudsman may use phone trees, care lines or newsletters in order to communicate news and information to the families. The Ombudsman is an Information and Referral service to command families. This means that a spouse can call the Ombudsman to get accurate answers to variety of questions. For example, do I register my car in Japan?” “When is Navy Marine Corps Relief Society ope?” “I lost my ID card; howCan I get a new one?” “What childcare is available in this area?” The Ombudsman is also a resource for pertinent base and local phone numbers. If a spouse calls with a problem or concern, the Ombudsman can refer the spouse to the appropriate place. The Ombudsman is aware of the resources available on the base and in the local community. The Ombudsman Program’s code of ethics ensures that a person may talk to his or her Ombudsman about a family situation and the conversation will be kept confidential. In fact, because of the high standards of the Ombudsman Program, a breach of confidentiality is grounds for dismissal from the position. In most cases, all of the questions, problems, and/or concerns that Ombudsman receive are kept confidential. There are, however, instances when a situation MUST be reported to the Commanding Officer and the appropriate agency. These situations are referred to as the 5 Reportables. These are: 1. All suspected child abuse/neglect. 2. Alleged spouse abuse. 3. Suspected/potential homicides, violence, or life endangering situations. 4. All suspected/potential suicidal risks. 5. Drug and Alcohol Abuse Added to these 5 reportables will be other issues identified by the CO as his reportables.
Home Email Addresses
If you would like to receive reminder announcements of meetings and messages pertaining to families or events that arise between newsletters, simply send me your home email address, and I will forward the information to you. The addresses are kept private and confidential, and all messages are sent blind carbon copy to assure this. You can also complete the Family Info Sheet which your spouses can bring home.
The next FRG Meeting will be Thursday, January 15 @ 5:30 pm in the Niban Tower Party Room http://www.cfay.navy.mil/ffsc/maps/BaseMap.pdf. Child care is provided please RSVP for child care.
Happy holiday from the Family Readiness Group! We hope you and your family have a safe and happy holiday season. Thank you to everyone who attended the last FRG meeting, we had lots of delicious food to pass around and enjoyed some great com‐ pany. Our next FRG meeting will be Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 5:30pm in the Niban Tower party room. Please note the time change. We have child care for those that RSVP. We will not be having a meeting in December as not to interrupt the precious time you have with your loved ones. We will be having our Children's Holiday Party Saturday, December 13, 2008 from 4pm‐6pm in the Shobu Heights party room. This will be a Turkey/Ham dinner. If you would like to come please RSVP as soon as possible to fitz‐ geraldfrg@yahoo.com with your child's name, age and gender. If you don't have children you can still come and help out, please let me know if you are interested in volunteering. Thanks to Stacie Desso we have received supplies to bake cookies for our single sailors from the USO. We would like to deliver them before the leave pe‐ riod starts. If you would like to volunteer to bake please let me know. Good news, our cookbooks are on there way! They have been shipped and will be here soon. We have advance sale coupons available if you would like to pay now and just pick them up when they arrive. Please let me know and I will of course send out an email as soon as they get here. Thanks to everyone who assisted with the deco‐ rating of the command tree for the Festival of Trees, our tree turned out great and with an important message. Thank you to Janine Dromerhauser, Tessa Ready, Sta‐ cie Desso, Susan Webb, Reanna Althoff and Cynthia Curry for taking the time out to help. Our theme this year is drunk driving awareness. Please take time out this weekend to go and see it and all the other trees on display. If you are not on the FRG mailing list and would like to be please Vivian Osmus, President send us an email. If you have any suggestions about how your FRG (241-3442) could better serve you please let us know. We are not anything Tammy Milius, Vice President without people like you! Tessa Ready, Treasurer Again have a safe and wonderful holiday season! Susan Batten, Secretary Ships Careline: 243-2451 USS Fitzgerald Family Readiness Group
December 2008
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Ombudsman Assembly
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Kid’s Holiday Party! 4 pm—6 pm Shobu Tower
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Command Christmas Party @ New Sanno Hotel
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PSC 473, Box 281 FPO AP 96349 **************
Mail Orderly: Please notify USS Fitzgerald Ombudsman when personnel arrive or leave .
USS FITZGERALD OMBUDSMAN NEWSLETTER
Important Numbers
FFSC Employment/HRO Commissary Navy Exchange Personal Property (US) Personal Property (MOD) Housing Welcome Office Naval Hospital Yokosuka Naval Dental Clinic Negishi Medical Clinic TRICARE Desk WIC Overseas Program Post Office (Yokosuka) Post Office Ikego Post Office Negishi Navy College University of Maryland University of Oklahoma University of Phoenix NMCRS Community Bank NFCU American Embassy ITT (046) 816-3372 (046) 816-5725 (046) 816-7628 (046) 816-5150 (046) 816-5426 (046) 816-7061 (046) 816-8846/8847 (046) 816-7144 (046) 816-8808 (045) 281-4161 (046) 816-9528 (046) 816-9426 (046) 816-6711 (046) 806-8051 (045) 281-4114 (046) 816-8131 (046) 816-4613 (046) 816-4990 (046) 816-6985 (046) 816-4450 (046) 816-4585 (046) 816-3333 (033) 224-5000 (046) 816-5613/7257
Richard Dromerhauser Executive Officer Command Master Chief
Eric Cole (046) 816-2457 Robert Brodie
USS Fitzgerald Commander
Chaplain (046) 816-6409 Ombudsman
LT Barry
Nomsa Sibeko-Brown
(090) 6161-1488 (046)806-5765 CARELINE (046) 816-2451 Quarterdeck
(046) 816-2460
Emergency on Base 911/110 Emergency Off Base 119 Base Security (046) 816-5000 American Red Cross (046) 816-7490/5291 Family Readiness Group (046) 896-3442
(046) 816-5732 (046) 816-6703 (046) 816-5406 (045) 281-4126 (046) 816-5398 (046) 816-5304 (046) 816-5574 (046) 281-4125 (046) 816-3219 (046) 896-4101 (046) 896-5478 (046) 816-3439 (046) 816-6708 1-800-NAVY-INN Army Veterinary (046) 816-6820 NEX Kennels (046) 816-4530 PAWS (046) 816-9996 Byrd Elementary (045) 281-4815 Ikego Elementary (046) 806-8320 Sullivans Elementary (046) 816-7336 Yokosuka Middle School (046) 816-5165 Kinnick High School (046) 816-7392 New Sanno Hotel (033) 440-7871
Outdoor Recreation Benny Decker Theater Fleet Theater Negishi Theater Purdy Gym Fleet Gym Library Negishi Library Main CDC Hourly CDC Child Dev. Homes Youth Center Navy Lodge