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

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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Ahsha Bass, 2022-2023 National Military Youth of the Year

Ahsha Bass (@elisabeth.bass03) • Instagram photos and videos

[email protected]

Look out for Chat with Asha B on Spotify– coming soon!

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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 [email protected]

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