Photo By Paul Long | Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan (Oct. 2, 2013) Culinary Specialist Seaman DeArra...... read more read more
YOKOSUKA, Japan - Sailors assigned to the USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) (BLR) and Commander, U.S. Seventh Fleet’s (C7F) Coalition of Sailors Against Destructive Decisions (CSADD) held a Celebration of Life affair at Club Alliance, onboard Fleet Activities, Yokosuka, Oct. 2.
According to Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Toni Burton, president of BLR/C7F’s CSADD chapter, the event is about suicide prevention.
“September was Suicide Prevention month,” said Burton. “A member came up with the idea that suicide is a gloomy subject, so why don’t we discuss it in a celebration of life-type affair, and that’s what we did tonight.”
The event featured music, hip-hop dance, food, skits, poetry readings, testimonials, and performances from BLR/C7F’s CSADD members.
One of the skits, interwoven between music and the other performances, showed a sailor down on his luck after being discharged from the Navy, and kicked out of his house by this wife. Throughout each skit, the sailor carries several pieces of luggage, symbolizing the baggage he carries during his life that could make him suicidal. In the end, the sailor sheds his baggage, smiles, and looks forward to the rest of his life.
Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Allyson-Kevin Gonzales, assigned to Blue Ridge, portrayed the sailor down on his luck.
“We wanted to let people know that there is a way out, to celebrate their life,” Gonzales said. “You’re not alone, everyone has their downs, and there is always a bright side of life.”
Legalman Seaman M’blau Fornah, another Blue Ridge sailor, sang Bill Wither’s “Lean On Me” during the event, and gave her testimony on why she didn’t commit suicide.
“No matter what you’re going through in life, there’s always a brighter side,” Fornah said. “Sometimes we blind ourselves to seeing only the negative side of life because of what we’re going through at the moment, but there’s always a reason to celebrate life. “When I heard about the suicide prevention event, it was a topic that hit home for me. I felt like it was something I wanted to be a part of and something that I wanted to support. It was great to be a part of such a positive thing that CSADD is doing.”
The CSADD mission is to provide military members of all branches with the best prevention and intervention tools possible to deal with the issues of drinking, reckless driving, and other destructive decisions while maintaining good order and discipline, to assist sailors in making life decisions that will maintain positive lifestyles in keeping with the Navy’s core values, to guide sailors away from making poor and destructive decisions by providing them with positive and dynamic training and to show sailors how to make quick positive decisions and put their training to use in moments of high stress and peer pressure.
| Date Taken: | 10.02.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 11.01.2013 03:06 |
| Story ID: | 116097 |
| Location: | YOKOSUKA, KANAGAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 120 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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