Being the Spouse of a Servicemember can be a rewarding but sometimes lonely job. You are the person that has to keep the home fires burning, and you are the literal chief cook and bottle washer for your family, making sure that everything at home is kept running smoothly while your spouse is serving our country. This is true whether you are blessed to have your Servicemember spouse close to home on Stateside Duty, or whether your Spouse is currently fighting the War on Terror and is stationed Overseas. Well, there is a program that is designed to support the military Spouse, whether here at home in the United States or at various sites around the world. It is called the COMPASS program, and it is a program that is sponsored by the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. It is a program that while sponsored by these three services is open to the spouses, or dependants of all active duty Servicemembers no matter which of the five branches of service they serve in. The only requirement is that the Spouse or loved one lives within the area served by a particular COMPASS group.
The goals of the program include giving information on how the military operates, what their service’s mission is, and how the military System operates. The program is also one that offers services to anyone that is part of a Servicemember family while aiming mostly at Military Spouses a girlfriend or boyfriend of an active duty Servicemember is often able to participate. It is a series of small group programs aimed at assisting the spouses and loved ones of Servicemembers make full use of available services that are open to them, and to assist in understanding and acclimatizing to military life.
How it Works- The COMPASS program is set up consisting of informal small groups and support classroom settings. People who participate in the program help later teach the program to others, in a supportive peer-to-peer type setting. The program is inclusive in that it teaches the specifics of the Service where it is located. This means, if it is situated on a US Navy base it teaches about US Navy Life, or on a Marine Corps Base it talks about life in the Marine Corps, etc.
The COMPASS Group is a volunteer group that serves mainly US Marine Corps, US Navy and US Coast Guard families. The supervising agent is normally the US Navy Services Family line program, and it helps supply the classroom materials and provides support for the program.