25 Years of COMPASS: Navigating Navy Life with Confidence with NS FamilyLine COMPASS Director Susan FoxIf you’ve ever wondered who you’re supposed to call, ask, or trust when Navy life feels overwhelming — this episode is for you.

In this episode of Our Navy Life, host Teal Yost sits down with Susan Fox, Director of the COMPASS program at Naval Services FamilyLine, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of COMPASS — a spouse-to-spouse program that has helped Navy families navigate military life with confidence, clarity, and connection.

Susan shares her own journey as a Navy spouse and volunteer mentor, beginning with her first COMPASS class in Guam and continuing through years of service supporting spouses worldwide. Together, Teal and Susan explore how COMPASS equips families with practical knowledge, emotional support, and community — ensuring no spouse has to figure out Navy life alone.

Whether you’re brand new to the Navy, a seasoned spouse, or somewhere in between, this conversation highlights why COMPASS remains one of the most trusted resources in the Navy community.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• The origin story of COMPASS

How a spouse recognized the need for Navy-specific

support and built a program that has served families for

25 years.

• What COMPASS actually is

  A peer-led, spouse-to-spouse program offering Navy Life 101 — from benefits and PCS moves to deployments and communication.

• Why the peer model works

  COMPASS creates a rank-free, judgment-free environment where spouses learn from lived experience and shared understanding.

• Confidence through knowledge

  Participants learn practical skills like reading LES statements, understanding entitlements, planning PCS moves, and navigating deployments.

• Connection beyond Google

  While information is online, COMPASS provides nuance, hands-on learning, and real human connection.

• Support during isolation and transition

  COMPASS helps spouses build confidence, friendships, and support networks after PCS moves and during deployment seasons.

• Why seasoned spouses still benefit

  Even experienced spouses gain new insights, updated policy information, and fresh PCS and deployment tips.

• Volunteer mentorship & giving back

  How spouses can become COMPASS mentors and make a tangible impact supporting fellow Navy families.

• How the program evolved for modern Navy life

  From curriculum updates to virtual sessions, COMPASS continues adapting to changing Navy policies and family needs.

• A powerful message for overwhelmed spouses

  You are not alone. There is a legacy of spouses ready to support you.

Resources & Links

• COMPASS Program Information

• NS FamilyLine Website

• NS FamilyLine Facebook

• NS FamilyLine Instagram

• COMPASS Instagram: @go.compass

If this episode encouraged you, share it with a spouse who is new, transitioning, or feeling overwhelmed. One conversation can open the door to confidence and community.

From our Navy family to yours — stay strong, stay connected, and stay mission ready.

Resources & Links

What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking with NYT Bestselling Author & Navy Veteran Spouse Caroline Chambers

If you’ve ever stood in front of the fridge after a long Navy day thinking, “I cannot make one more decision,” this episode is for you.

In this episode of Our Navy Life, host Teal Yost sits down with Caroline Chambers — New York Times bestselling cookbook author, recipe developer, Substack creator, mom of four, and former Navy spouse — to talk about realistic cooking for real military life.

Caroline knows the Navy spouse season firsthand. After moving from New York to Coronado to be with her husband, a Navy SEAL, she launched a “fake-it-til-you-make-it” catering company built with other SEAL spouses — a pivot that eventually led to her bestselling cookbook, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking.

Together, Teal and Caroline unpack how food, community, and flexibility help military families survive deployments, solo-parenting seasons, PCS chaos, and everyday burnout.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

• From Coronado to Cookbook: How Caroline’s Navy spouse life sparked her career in food media.
  

• Letting go of perfection: Why “just get everyone fed” beats gourmet every time — especially with kids.
  

• Time-honest cooking: How organizing recipes by real-world minutes builds confidence and removes intimidation from cooking.
  

• Busy-life hacks: Smart swaps, fewer ingredients, and grocery-store-friendly cooking for unpredictable schedules.
  

• Solo-parent survival strategy: Caroline’s realistic meal-prep system for deployment seasons and long workdays.
  

• Food as community: How dropping off meals, salad swaps, and potluck wins help spouses connect at new duty stations.
  

• Potluck MVP: Why showing up with a great salad (hello, the Dilly Chop) makes you unforgettable.
  

• Rapid-fire favorites: Clean-out-the-fridge meals, pantry must-haves, and comfort food when depleted.
  

• The truth about kids and dinner: Even a NYT bestselling author has nights where only one kid eats the meal.
  

Caroline’s message is simple and freeing: Dinner doesn’t have to be perfect — it just has to be doable.

Whether you’re in a deployment season, PCS transition, or just plain tired of cereal nights, this episode will leave you feeling supported, capable, and hungry in the best way.

• Book: What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking

• Newsletter / Substack: https://whattocook.substack.com

• Instagram: @carochambers

• Navy SEAL Foundation: https://www.navysealfoundation.org

If this episode helped you, share it with a spouse friend in the thick of Navy life — especially the one juggling deployments, kids, and the eternal “what’s for dinner?” question.

From our Navy family to yours — stay strong, stay connected, and stay mission ready.

Stay Connected With Us:

• NSFL Website

• NSFL Facebook

• NSFL Instagram

Holidays in the Navy don’t always look like the ones we grew up with. Instead of gathering around familiar tables, many military families find themselves creating new traditions thousands of miles from “home.”

In this episode, Teal Yost and guest co-host Kathryn Butler dive into what makes OCONUS holiday seasons both challenging and deeply meaningful. From KFC Christmas dinners in Japan, to Le Befana visiting children in Italy, to 12 grapes at midnight in Spain, to fireworks across Hawaii — they explore how Navy families adapt, connect, and rediscover the heart of the holidays wherever they’re stationed.

Whether you’re preparing for your first holiday overseas or reminiscing on duty stations past, this episode is a warm reminder that home is wherever our people are.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode

• Getting to know Kathryn Hear Kathryn’s Navy journey, her OCONUS duty stations, and how living abroad shaped her family’s holiday traditions.

• What to expect during your first OCONUS holiday season Is it harder? More meaningful? A bit of both? Teal and Kathryn share their honest, lived experience.

• Japan’s unique Christmas celebrations – Christmas Eve as a couple’s holiday – Stunning seasonal illuminations – The iconic KFC Christmas dinner (yes, really!) – The New Year’s Emperor Greeting

• Italian holiday traditions – La Befana on January 5 – St. Nicholas Day on December 6

• Spanish celebrations – Twelve grapes at midnight for good luck – New Year’s red underwear tradition – Three Kings Day (Día de los Reyes)

• Holidays in Hawaii Fireworks, celebrations, and island traditions that make the season unforgettable.

• Advice for families spending their first holiday overseas Teal and Kathryn share heartfelt guidance for navigating emotions, expectations, and new memories.

Whether you’re a new Navy spouse, a seasoned partner, or a supporter of the Navy community, this episode offers inspiration, history, and a reminder that you’re never navigating this life alone.

Stay Connected With Us:

• NSFL Website

• NSFL Facebook

• NSFL Instagram