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Warrior Transiton Program Dedicates Decompression Tent to Sailors

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100709-09
7/9/2010

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (AW) Christopher D. Blachly, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet Public Affairs

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait (NNS) -- The Warrior Transition Program (WTP) at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, held a dedication ceremony opening the doors to the Cmdr. Charles "Keith" Springle Decompression Tent June 27.

The tent is the latest addition to the facility, dedicated to welcoming the Navy's individual augmentee and Global War on Terror support assignment Sailors back to the fleet after serving their tours throughout the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility.

Named after Cmdr. Charles Springle, who was killed in May 2009 while deployed with the Army 55th Medical Company Combat Stress Center in Iraq, the tent was designed as a place where redeploying Sailors can go to relax and unwind before returning home from their assignments.

"He (Springle) was one of the few individual augmentees that did not make it through the doors at the Warrior Transition Center," said Cmdr. Curtis Price, chaplain for the WTP. "Additionally, as a social worker, he is an example of the caring professionals here at the Warrior Transition Program. His passion is our passion. The decompression tent is a natural extension of his life's work."

The first thing many Sailors will see as they enter the tent is a photo printed out on the opposite wall of a homecoming celebration for the guided-missile destroyer USS Gonzalez (DDG 66) as the ship draws close to the pier.

According to Price, the image was selected because the mindset during a homecoming celebration is what the WTP staff wants the redeploying Sailors to feel. They are close to the pier and almost finished.

"By the time our redeploying Sailors arrive here in Kuwait, they are a mere plane ride away from home," said Price. "Our desire is for them to experience the beginning of a stress-free homecoming."

To facilitate that, the decompression tent has a 35-seat theater, 10 computers, five Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command internet phones, an eight-seat interlinked gaming center, a large-screen television and various other items that Sailors can check out like books on tape and board games.

"It's designed to help Sailors take their minds off the arduous duty that they've done in theater and to help put them in the mind frame of going home," said Chief Boatswain's Mate Maemarie Josafat, leading chief petty officer of WTP. "WTP is not about the decompression tent. It's about the Sailor and getting them home."

The mission and mindset of WTP is the Sailor, but the ceremony June 27 was all about opening the tent. Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, guests were treated to a tour, including a presentation in the tent's theater, highlighting the construction of the facility that started in 2009.

"MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) Bahrain provided all of the couches, movies, books on tape and X-Boxes." said Price. "The Seabees from Camp Moreell built the stadium seating in the theater."

The decompression tent will be open 24 hours a day for redeploying Sailors and is the first of a plan of improvements, including a covered garden area, designed with one thing in mind – the Sailor coming home.