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Orders said “Guam,” and Ashley’s world changed overnight. What followed was a whirlwind of a temporary hotel room, a toddler, a pregnancy, and a husband who left again within a week for a year-and-a-half stretch tied to submarine maintenance in San Diego. Instead of folding, she found a way forward—thanks to an ombudsman with a welcome bag, a community that shows up at the airport, and a choice to step into leadership when it mattered most.
We trace Ashley’s path from Michigan to Groton and Washington, then across the ocean to Guam, where the contrast with stateside life is unmistakable. She explains how ombudsman training connected her HR background with the realities of deployment support, and how COVID stress-tested everything: supply runs for crews at sea, constantly shifting rules, commissary lines that wound like a maze, and families who needed battle buddies as much as they needed groceries. The lessons are clear—communication beats assumptions, community beats isolation, and resourcefulness beats uncertainty.
Ashley also opens up about transforming volunteer service into a professional role at Fleet and Family Support—first on island coordinating ombudsmen, deployment briefs, FRG support, and TAP, then on a remote team delivering virtual workshops and one-on-one consultations across time zones. We talk candidly about parenting far from home, a spouse stepping into the COB pipeline, and a looming homeport change that will ripple through every family on board. Her advice for new overseas spouses is practical and direct: get out of the house, meet your neighbors, and build roots where your feet are. Whether you’re eyeing overseas orders, navigating a tough deployment, or considering a career pivot that aligns with service, you’ll walk away with strategies you can use today.
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