Our Navy Life

Navigating TRICARE

Zelly Zim is a Health System Specialist in the Policy & Program Section for TRICARE Health Plan, Defense Health Agency. Her primary role is as the senior analyst for the TRICARE Select program. She serves as a subject matter expert, which involves the promulgation of federal statutes into Regulation and Policy for the Department of Defense’s 9.6 million healthcare beneficiaries.

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Stories of Resilience: Mrs. Annie Rae Payne

Annie Rae Payne is a Navy Veteran who previously worked for the state of Washington as the Education Coordinator at a state-funded early childhood education and assistance program.  She is the Life Skills and Family Advocacy Program Educator at the Fleet and Family Support Center at NAS Whidbey Island.  In addition to being the NASWI Ombudsman Coordinator, she has been an Ombudsman for 13 years and is presently appointed to the World Famous Rooks of VAQ-137.

She and her husband, Eric, are about to embark on their 15th deployment together.  Eric and Annie share three children, a son and daughter-in-law, two Grandchildren, and their German Shepherd Harley.  Annie enjoys reading, camping, game nights, and entertaining in her free time.   

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Stories of Resilience: Dr. Rosie Ortiz-Torres

Dr. Rosie Ortiz-Torres obtained her Doctoral degree while also living overseas the last 10 years, raising two teenagers, navigating deployments and volunteering with the military community as well. She’ll share her personal experience in leaving active duty and leveraging resources such as the Red Cross, Fleet and Family Support Centers and the Navy Marine Corp Relief Society.

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Stories of Resilience: Meg Graves

As a proud Navy military wife of 12 years, Meg is no stranger to the hardships of being married in the military. Their three children, two of whom are EFM, and her own EFM status as a Breast Cancer survivor have given her first-hand experience in advocating for their unique needs. Breast cancer has taught her that we all have our own version of hard. She has empowered, led, and encouraged other military families as their needs and families grow and change. Her role as a Navy ombudsman (& Air Force key spouse) at joint commands has given her insights into how EFMP differs between service branches.

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Honoring Pride Month: Live Your Navy Life Authentically and With Pride!

In honor of Pride Month, today’s episode chats with Ashley and Julie Harper. Julie and Ashley are a same-sex couple married for 6 years, both from Jacksonville, FL. Julie serves on Active Duty in the Navy and Ashley works full time at the Naval Academy. They welcomed their first child, Avery, in April this year. Ashley and Julie’s journey as a gay Navy family is not unlike that of other Navy families. In this interview, we talk about how to be more inclusive of our LGBTQ+ Navy families, demonstrate allyship, and how we can encourage others to live their Navy life authentically.

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Navigating the Exceptional Family Member Program: A Spouse’s Journey to Advocate for Her Daughter and Other Navy Families

The Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) can often be overwhelming and challenging to navigate. Join us for today’s episode as we chat with Michelle Norman, mother of a 19-year-old daughter with cerebral palsy and 21 other disabilities.  After years of successfully advocating and winning multiple legal cases to ensure her daughter receives the minimum education required by law, she was contacted by military families across the country dealing with similar problems in public schools. Out of her passion for advocating, she launched Partners in PROMISE to ensure no other military family had to experience what they did so that their family could receive the support it needed.

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One of our missions with “Our Navy Life” is to share the incredible stories of what Navy spouses are doing in their communities and how they’re choosing to live this Navy life. In honor of Military Spouse Appreciation Month, today’s episode is a conversation with Katie Kortman, Navy spouse and mother of four kids. Katie is a fashion and textile designer, painter, teacher, and dancing queen. In 2021, Katie was a designer on season 19 of Bravo’s Project Runway. Today, she lives with her husband, a Navy obstetrician and gynecologist, and their four children and they are stationed in Yokosuka, Japan.

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Mental Toughness

DISCLAIMER: The next three episodes are part of a series on Mental Toughness and the discussions will share very vulnerable stories and resources about suicide. If hearing about and discussing suicide is triggering, we encourage you to come back and listen at a time that is right for you. Talking about suicide doesn’t lead to suicide, but we know that people are scared to talk about it. 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and Our Navy Life is digging in to talk about suicide, suicide prevention, and how we can support our service members, spouses, and children as we navigate the challenges of Navy life. Today’s episode is a discussion with Heidi Dindial, whose family’s story is the epitome of how the stress and challenges of Navy life can impact our service members and their families. There are some issues with the audio quality in this episode, but we promise that if you stick with us through the end, you’ll be grateful for Heidi’s vulnerability and sharing her story. 

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 Mental Toughness: Navigating the mental health crisis in the Navy (Lt Dale Hirsch)

Mental Toughness

DISCLAIMER: The next three episodes are part of a series on Mental Toughness and the discussions will share very vulnerable stories and resources about suicide. If hearing about and discussing suicide is triggering, we encourage you to come back and listen at a time that is right for you. Talking about suicide doesn’t lead to suicide, but we know that people are scared to talk about it. 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and Our Navy Life is digging in to talk about suicide, suicide prevention, and how we can support our service members, spouses, and children as we navigate the challenges of Navy life. Today’s episode is a discussion with Lt Dale Hirsch, a Research Psychologist of the Navy Leadership and Ethics Center to discuss more about the mental health crisis in the Navy and how we can work towards developing mentally tough sailors and families. As a disclaimer, the thoughts, opinions and ideas discussed in this episode are solely from the purview of Lt Hirsch and not of the Department of Defense. 

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Season 2 Episode 5 Mental Toughness: When there are no warning signs

DISCLAIMER: The next three episodes are part of a series on Mental Toughness and the discussions will share very vulnerable stories and resources about suicide. If hearing about and discussing suicide is triggering, we encourage you to come back and listen at a time that is right for you. Talking about suicide doesn’t lead to suicide, but we know that people are scared to talk about it. 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and Our Navy Life is digging in to talk about suicide, suicide prevention, and how we can support our service members, spouses, and children as we navigate the challenges of Navy life. Our first episode in this series chats with Shelly Bohner, Navy spouse of 29 years and a mother surviving the loss of her only son to suicide. Her story is vulnerable and compelling and we are honored to share it so that others may find solace in it and learn from it.

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Purple Up! Celebrating Military-Connected Youth

Happy Birthday Chiefs!

Today’s discussion dives into what it means to be a Chief Petty Officer and how that impacts Navy families. 

Crystal Bennet is an educator, an advocate, a survivor and a self-proclaimed thriver! For the past 25 years she has been driven by her personal experiences of trauma to elevate and amplify the voices of individuals and communities in order to promote healing and opportunities to move from surviving to thriving. 

As a mother to four children and a Navy spouse she has had to exhibit great flexibility but has also learned the importance of taking control in order to create the path that allows herself and her family to thrive. 

Mike Stevens is currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer for the Navy League of the United States. He retired from the U.S. Navy in September 2016 after serving as the 13th Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy.

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Get to Know Sergio and Kaleisha!

Sergio Rodriguez, Host of Naval Services FamilyLine “Our Navy Life”, Housing Advocate, Volunteer, 2022 Navy Spouse of The Year

Kaleisha Hatchin, Co-host of Naval Services FamilyLine “Our Navy Life” Podcast, entrepreneur and 9 year military spouse.

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Welcome to FamilyLine!  Today's guest is Beth Weber, the chairman of Naval Services FamilyLine. Beth Weber is an entrusted leader & mentor who strives to impact the personal & professional journeys of others. You can contact Beth Weber, Naval Services FamilyLine Chairman, at chairman@nsfamilyline.org

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Show Notes: Join host, Sergio Rodriguez, and co-host, Cherry King, as they chat with Mrs. Evelyn Honea, wife of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy. In this discussion, Evelyn shares her experiences as an entrepreneur and Navy spouse, while maintaining her own identity as an involved spouse and parent.

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Welcome back to the show! Today we are talking about a very important topic for all military families: Housing. Host Sergio Rodriguez and co-host Abigail McCracken, the 2022 Armed Forces Insurance Coast Guard Spouse of the Year, are joined by our guest Kate Needham, who co-founded the nonprofit, Armed Forces Housing Advocates in 2021. Kate has been on the front lines fighting for military families to have clean and safe homes.

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It’s not uncommon for a Navy family to go through the holiday season with a deployed Service member. Join host, Sergio Rodriguez, and co-host Kaleshia Hatchin, as they chat with Brenda Spencer. Brenda is a volunteer navy spouse, a mother, and also a veteran.  Hear Brenda’s tips to get through the holidays by creating traditions and doing what works best for you and your family.

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Welcome back to Our Navy Life, today’s episode is a very special episode because we are honoring the stories of our Navy spouses who are also veterans. In this episode, we have several wonderful guests to chat with us about their time serving. We are better together, and the rich experiences that Veterans bring to our community only make us that much better and stronger as a Navy family community.

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Join host, Sergio Rodriguez, and co-host, Kaleshia Hatchin, as they chat with Samantha Hatch, Navy Reserve chaplain and Navy spouse about the emotional cycle of deployment. As Navy families, we endure deployments as a regular part of our lifestyle. But just because we experience them frequently doesn’t mean we are deployment experts. As Sam explains, each deployment is different and knowing where you are in the cycle is important to better understand and support yourselves and your family.

Show Takeaways:

• Communication is key before, during, and after deployment.
• Lean on the resources in your community (FRG, ombudsman, spouse groups) in times of need.
• Find your local Naval Services FamilyLine chapter and register for the next Compass session.

Let’s Connect:

Join host, Sergio Rodriguez, and co-host, Ali Maruca, as they chat with the spouse of the Chief of Naval Operations, Mrs. Linda Gilday. From military spouse employment to managing dual careers to how to lean on your village, Mrs. Gilday talks about her experience as a Navy spouse and how integral the Navy family community is in supporting one another.

Show Takeaways:

• Managing a career as a military spouse
• Surviving and thriving in a dual-career military household
• Supporting fellow Navy spouses and families

Let’s Connect:

With rising costs of living across the nation and around the world, the challenges of military spouse employment and childcare, and the unanticipated challenges of military life, it’s no surprise that food insecurity is on the rise among Navy families. Join host Sergio Rodriguez, and co-host Ali Maruca, as they chat with Delia Johnson, program director of the Combat Hunger initiative with the Military Family Advisory Network. You’ll also hear from guest Cat Gehry, Navy Veteran and spouse, and mother of four, and her experience to struggle to put food on the table for her family.

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