Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Quinton Lee | YOKOSUKA, Japan (July 16, 2025) - The Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka Fleet and...... read more read more
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FLEET ACTIVITIES YOKOSUKA, Japan -- Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka Fleet and Family Support Center (CFAY FFSC) celebrated the organization’s 46th anniversary July 16 in the installation’s Community Readiness Center, or CRC, in Yokosuka, Japan.
The event included a cake-cutting ceremony, performances by the U.S. 7th Fleet Band and an information fair with family activities and games for all base community members. The open house showcased the wide range of support services CFAY FFSC offers.
For CFAY FFSC staff, the anniversary celebrates their mission.
“We’re not just marking another year; we’re celebrating 46 years of helping Sailors and families,” said Amy Trotto, CFAY FFSC director. “Our team is proud to serve this community every day.”
The FFSC concept was born in the late 1970s as the Navy recognized “the need to better support its people at home.” The first Navy Family Service Center (FSC) opened in Norfolk, Virginia, on July 16, 1979. Throughout the early 1980s, the Navy established similar centers focusing first on major fleet concentration areas like San Diego and Yokosuka before expanding to less concentrated installations.
On December 19, 1980, an FSC was established onboard CFAY at the corner of 3rd Ave. and A Street. The facility would be the temporary home to the newly established Yokosuka Family Service Center as well as the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society, American Red Cross, and the Officer Wives Club according to a December 26, 1980 article in the Seahawk by Dave Garrison.
This era of CFAY saw significant modernization. Carney Gate was well into a three-year project requiring it to physically move and make way for the new Club Alliance. Tenants at Nagai Heights Housing Area—an area at what is modern-day Soleil Park—began moving out of the U.S.-suburban-style wood-frame single-story houses in preparation to turn the land over to the Government of Japan. And negotiations began to construct several Navy Housing towers and hundreds of town homes where the recently inactivated Navy ammunition detachment was located at the foot of Ikego Forest.
The Yokosuka FSC operated out of their temporary facility until July 1984 when the new Personnel Support Facility—now the Transaction Support Center—held it’s grand opening. This building opened just days after the Jewel of the East Enlisted Dining Facility held their own ribbon-cutting ceremony and a little more than a week before the Unaccompanied Officer Personnel Housing—a building that is now part of Navy Gateway Inns—had it’s first tenants move in. Yokosuka FSC staff remained in their permanent location even after the program’s fleet-wide 2001 reorganization to Fleet and Family Support Center. In 2009, CFAY FFSC staff moved to their current location immediately after the CRC opened.
Today, CFAY FFSC has more than 30 staff members including spouses of active-duty personnel alongside U.S. and Japanese civilian specialists delivering its programs. CFAY FFSC services are available free of charge to all active-duty personnel, their family members, and Department of Defense civilian employees stationed in Yokosuka. Similar counseling or classes off base could cost hundreds of dollars per session.
“CFAY FFSC embodies our Navy’s deepest commitment and caring for our people,” said Capt. Les Sobol, Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka. “When we invest in our Sailors well-being, providing the support they need to thrive, we not only build stronger families, we create a stronger Navy. Our FFSC team ensures that Sailors and their families can confidently navigate the challenges of service overseas, allowing our people to remain mission-focused and resilient.”
Every Sailor and civilian here has gone through the CFAY FFSC Area Orientation Brief / Intercultural Relations (AOB/ICR) course. This mandatory three-day orientation introduces incoming Sailors, civilians and families to base facilities, local customs, and basic Japanese language, and serves as a prerequisite for obtaining a driver’s license on base.
But CFAY FFSC services go far beyond that Welcome Aboard brief.
CFAY FFSC staff offers workshops and classes with wide-ranging topics from the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) for those moving from military to civilian life, credit management and home-buying seminars to stress management, parenting skills and spouse employment seminars like résumé-writing courses and job fairs. Beyond the classroom, CFAY FFSC staff and volunteers organize cultural exchange events and local tours to help families feel at home in Japan and adjust to life overseas.
CFAY FFSC maintains three locations. The main office is on the fourth floor of the CRC. CRC is located directly across the street from the Yokosuka Commissary. A second office dedicated to transition classes is located in the Fleet Recreation Center within the Navy College Wing on the third floor. A satellite CFAY FFSC branch is staffed twice a week in CFAY Ikego Heights Family Housing Area and is open to assist families on Wednesdays and Fridays.
For more information, please contact the CFAY FFSC at 046-816-3372 or FFSCinfo@us.navy.mil.
| Date Taken: | 07.16.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.23.2025 00:18 |
| Story ID: | 543148 |
| Location: | YOKOSUKA, KANAGAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 24 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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