Petty Officer 3rd Class Issuaha Townes interacts with Penny, a therapy dog that regularly participates in the USO's Therapy Tails program at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, Jan. 19, 2026. (Jonathan Baez/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The Navy has marked Spiritual Awareness Month on a global scale for the first time, an initiative aimed at supporting sailors of all beliefs, including those who find meaning through community rather than organized religion.
The observance was intended to strengthen sailors’ “spiritual wellbeing” through religious services, confidential counseling and other connections to community, according to Navy Installations Command.
“Naval service is incredibly demanding which requires our warriors to remain ready, both physically and spiritually,” command spokeswoman Destiny Sibert told Stars and Stripes by email Tuesday. “This month is dedicated to creating a supportive environment for our Sailors and their families.”
The effort began in 2022 as a regional observance at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla. Vice Adm. Scott Gray, head of the installations command, expanded it into a global program beginning this year.
Chaplain (Cmdr.) Daniel Clark discusses the Navy's Spiritual Awareness Month initiative at the Chapel of Hope on Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, Jan. 20, 2026. (Jonathan Baez/Stars and Stripes)
At Yokosuka — home to the U.S. 7th Fleet and the Navy’s largest overseas installation — January featured a range of activities, many adapted from existing programs. Events included all-hands emails, relationship workshops, yoga classes, canine therapy and mindfulness seminars, said Chaplain (Cmdr.) Daniel Clark, the base’s command chaplain.
“This doesn’t even necessarily have to pertain to religion itself — it’s spirituality, it’s the anchor,” he said during a Jan. 20 interview at Yokosuka.
Outside organized religion, spirituality may include family, shared values, fellow sailors or devotion to country, Clark said.
“It could be along the lines of patriotism — a connection with, say in the United States, the Constitution and the values that it portrays,” he said. “Rooting yourself in that, that’s one example of a non-religious but spiritual connection.
“Some people may not use the world ‘spirituality,’ but that really is, in fact, what it is — it’s that thing that grounds us and roots us.”
Clark said the observance was organized before Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced plans to “make the Chaplain Corps great again.”
Hegseth announced in a Dec. 17 video posted to X that he intends to pursue a “top-down cultural shift putting spiritual wellbeing on the same footing as mental and physical health.” He also said he plans to reinvigorate the chaplain’s role, which he described as having been “degraded in an atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism.”
Clark said Navy Installations Command already emphasizes mental and physical health, making spiritual awareness a natural extension.
He and his team coordinated events with such organizations as the Red Cross, Fleet and Family Services and the USO.
At the USO, that included Therapy Tails, a program allowing sailors to spend time with therapy dogs. Jacee Maldonado, a military spouse, and her dog, Penny, are regular volunteers.
Penny, a therapy dog, interacts with a USO patron as part of the organization's Therapy Tails program at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, Jan. 19, 2026. (Jonathan Baez/Stars and Stripes)
“I really think it just helps them spiritually, and just gives them, you know, kind of offloading the bad and just feeling a little bit of joy, even if it’s only for a couple of minutes,” she told Stars and Stripes at the Jan. 19 event.
For Petty Officer 3rd Class Issuaha Townes, of Jacksonville, Fla., Therapy Tails and the communities at the USO and Yokosuka’s Liberty Center have been important support networks during his time in Japan.
“I can honestly say, as far as me trying to stay grounded, just interacting with people here has helped a lot,” he said Jan. 19 at the USO.
