BANGOR — “Marriage and family readiness ultimately equates to mission readiness,” said Scott Radetski, Chaplains Religious Enrichment Development Operation (CREDO) subcontractor. “CREDO is about more than just mission readiness, though. It is about creating a safe place for service members and their families to have a safe place to be vulnerable.”
CREDO Northwest hosted a marriage enrichment workshop for sailors and their spouses at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor (NBK) on March 24.
Radetski said military families can struggle with expressing their feelings, especially after long deployments. The feelings will eventually come out and can hurt the sailor and even their command.
There are limited ways to keep in touch with spouses on deployment, and this can make it difficult to keep the lines of communication open.
“Deployment makes communication with spouses back home difficult,” said Personnel Specialist 2nd Class Nick Wozniak, from Orlando, Florida, assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68).
“You have email, some phones on the ship and you are able to communicate when you get into ports. There is also a difficult transition coming back from deployment. You have to work when you get home to open those lines of communication again.”
Wozniak said the workshop provided a safe environment for couples to share feelings without the fear of being judged.
CREDO workers try to ensure participants feel comfortable so they can work on problems.
“CREDO workshops give sailors an opportunity to come back, realign with their families and sift through their lives to find what is important,” said Radetski. “These events make marriages and families stronger (and) more resilient, and thus a stronger Navy.”
Sailors spend a lot of time at sea in preparation for, and during, deployments, which can impact their marriages.
“Credo events allow couples to get away from the kids, their regular work routine and re-engage in each other,” said Lt. Tianna Ren, CREDO Northwest NBK Detachment chaplain officer in charge.
Ren said the workshop is especially helpful for couples who were separated by a deployment. The workshop focuses on communication and tries to teach skills that will rekindle the romance. The goal is to get couples to open up to each other.
“The event also helped my wife and I understand how we communicate with each other and helped to strengthen those ties,” said Wozniak. “The CREDO event helped us to work through some problems from last deployment, and I think what we learned will help us with future deployments.”
Ren said all of the events are free for sailors and their families. Food, accommodations and activities are provided to sailors and their spouses, so sailors can focus on their families and not the cost.
“We try to be as welcoming as possible at CREDO,” said Ren. “One way that we do that is by being on a first-name basis. There isn’t a rank structure here, and we try to focus on the person and not on the rank. We want people to feel safe and not worry about who might hear what they have to say.”
CREDO organizes workshops for service members throughout the year that help with marriages, suicide prevention and personal resiliency. To attend a workshop, contact your local CREDO office.
Nimitz is conducting a docking planned incremental availability at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility where the ship is receiving scheduled maintenance and upgrades.
