Ombudsman

Ombudsman

The Ombudsman Program was introduced to the U.S. Navy on 14 September 1970 by the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt with a Z-gram. Admiral Zumwalt adapted his program from a 19th century Scandinavian custom originally established by the King to give ordinary private citizens an avenue to express their grievances to high government officials. The U.S. Navy shifted the focus away from the grievance-processing role to a primary focus on command communication, information, and referral.

Our VP-1 Ombudsmen, Lacie Freer and Hope Vasconez, are here to serve and assist VP-1 families. An Ombudsman is an official command representative who acts as a liaison between the command and families. Our Ombudsmen send out information about command & community resources and activities to families. They work closely with the FRG to serve your family in that regard.

When your spouse or family member has questions, comments, concerns, or problems, he/she should contact the Ombudsman, who can then provide resources to  assist and/or communicate with the command on behalf of the family member. Your Ombudsmen act as advocates for command families. They assist in emergencies  and crisis, especially during deployments. They can provide information about both military and civilian community agencies that can help families solve a variety of  problems, and successfully meet the challenges families face before, during, and after deployments. 

It is important if you have a change of address, phone number or email address, even if temporary, that you contact your VP-1 Ombudsman. If the Ombudsman does  not have the correct information, they may be unable to contact you with command information. If you are new to VP-1, be sure to contact your Ombudsmen.