Our Navy Life

Supporting our servicemembers means supporting their families. Having safe, reliable, affordable access to childcare is a critical issue that directly impacts military readiness and retention. Our guest Christin Anderson shares how her urgent need for childcare ended in a tragedy when her son suffered a traumatic brain injury at the hands of an abusive caregiver, while Kayla Corbit, founder of Ope...

Military Spouses have much higher rates of under and unemployment than their civilian counterparts. Finding long-term, meaningful employment as a military spouse can be difficult, and sometimes disheartening, due to frequent relocations, difficulties with childcare, and sometimes even a lack of confidence. In this episode Leslie Coffey and Ashton Andrews of American Corporate Partners discuss thei...

Season 4 Episode #2: Get to Know Your S-L-O: A Conversation with Naval School Liaison, Mindy Hayes Moving schools can be hard on both military children and their parents. In this episode, Naval Base Coronado School Liaison Mindy Hayes, discusses all the ways you can support your child academically and emotionally through PCSing, deployments, and more. From making sure your child adjusts to a new s...

Naval Services FamilyLine is a volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to serving naval spouses around the world. Our network of experienced, trained volunteer spouses allows us to mentor, consult, and guide families in the Navy. FamilyLine’s programs include Compass, CORE, Naval Spouse Leadership Courses, and online and hardcopy publications all designed to equip Navy spouses with the resour...

Stories of Resilience: Maegan Jones Maegan Jones is a proud Navy spouse of 14 years and mom to one daughter, age 8. Maegan is originally from Glenwood, Iowa, and Navy life has taken her to Hawaii, California, Tennessee, and most recently, Washington state. Maegan serves as the Secretary on the Naval Services FamilyLine Board of Directors and is also a COMPASS mentor. Additionally, Maegan is the om...

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 beneficiar...

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 Coordinato...

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 Ma...

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 empow...

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 Jul...

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 advocati...

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 202...

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 abo...

 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 a...

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 sui...

Purple Up! Celebrating Military-Connected Youth Ahsha Bass, 2022-2023 National Military Youth of the Year Ahsha Bass (@elisabeth.bass03) • Instagram photos and videos Asha.b1125@gmail.com Look out for Chat with Asha B on Spotify– coming soon! Show Links: Military Youth of the Year  Military Teen Adventure Camps through Purdue University Military Community Youth Ministries Young Marines USO Militar...

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 oppor...

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. Show Links: NSFL Website COMPASS Naval Services FamilyLine Facebook NsfamilyLine Instagram Please contact Jennifer Kise...

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 Show Links: NSFL Website Anchors Aweigh COMPASS CORE Naval Spouse Leadership Courses...

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. Show Links: MySECO Military Spouse Entrepreneur Guide Naval Services FamilyLine Compass N...

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...

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. Show Links: NS...

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....

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...

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 militar...