From CNP: June Sailor-to-Sailor Newsletter
The newest edition of the Sailor-to-Sailor newsletter is here! Your monthly source for essential career updates, leadership messages, and policy changes that directly impact you and your Sailors.
In this edition:
– Announcement of the 2025 Fleet Award Winners
– Updated Guidance on Grooming Standards and Religious Liberty
– Expansion of the Navy COOL Program
– The 2026 Permanent Change of Station Guide
Access the full newsletter here: https://d34w7g4gy10iej.cloudfront.net/pubs/pdf_77202.pdf
Leaders: Help spread the word. Print a copy for your shop’s bulletin board, share it during quarters, or forward this email to your teams to ensure every Sailor stays informed.
For more updates, follow MyNavy HR on social media.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyNAVYHR
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MYNAVYHR/
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/MYNAVYHR
X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MyNAVYHR
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Delivered by Defense Finance and Accounting Service
Why I Retired
“Why did you retire? I thought you were going to…”
I get this line of inquiry a lot. Here is the explanation.
Last year I started to have conversations with the Corps Chief’s Office about a post-command tour after Guam. I was told that the flag mess wanted me to get a surface warfare pin. In order to get one, I would have to become a CATF Surgeon and go to sea.
When I asked how long they would make me stay in the CATF billet before they let me compete for a more typical post-command position, they gave me the same answer that I would have given me if I was the Detailer or Deputy Corps Chief. The answer was that they would be writing me 3 year orders and that it would be up to the Detailers when I would be allowed to leave the billet for another position, hopefully a Fleet Surgeon job.
After spending 2 years in Guam unaccompanied, I was not willing to go to sea for an undetermined amount of time with an unknown endpoint. I would have been at 25 years, with only 5 years left before I was statutory. If I was going to be looked at for promotion, it would have happened very late in my 30 year career. I’d likely be age 53 or 54 before I got a serious look at promotion, and I don’t want to be working full-time at age 60.
My financial goal has always been to be financially independent by age 50 so I could retire if I wanted to. If I was having fun, I would hang around beyond that, but if I wasn’t, I’d have the option to leave. Going to sea after 2 years unaccompanied in Guam, and 2 of my last 3 sets of orders being unaccompanied/GEOBACH, was not my definition of fun. As a result, I retired.
The bottom line is that I didn’t want to go to sea just to get a pin after being unaccompanied in Guam for 2 years. If I was not willing to do what the flag mess wanted me to do, I’d rather just get out. As a result, I retired. It is that simple.
I hope that answers people’s question. I wanted to put my thought process out there.
As of now, the plan is to continue and improve the blog, helping people in Navy Medicine for as long as my help is useful.
Registration opens for the 2026 Military Health System Research Symposium
BLUF – Registration has opened for the 2026 Military Health System Research Symposium (Aug. 3–6, Kissimmee, Florida), the Department of War’s premier military medical research meeting, which will focus on warfighter medical readiness, expeditionary medicine, human performance, and return-to-duty research while bringing together more than 3,700 military, academic, government, and industry participants. For Navy Medicine, MHSRS remains the premier venue to showcase operational research, build collaborations, and translate scientific advances into capabilities that improve maritime medical readiness, combat casualty care, and expeditionary healthcare.
https://health.mil/News/Dvids-Articles/2026/06/25/news568550
Online ID Card Office Switches From DS Logon to New Verification Platform
BLUF – The article explains that the Defense Department is replacing the legacy DS Logon with the new myAuth identity verification system for ID Card Office Online, with TRICARE, MHS GENESIS, and other military health platforms transitioning later this year. For military healthcare leaders, the transition is important because it will change how beneficiaries, retirees, and staff access digital health services and patient portals, making early adoption and user education essential to minimize disruptions in access to care and administrative services.
6 military hospitals and clinics recognized as Centers of Excellence
BLUF – The Defense Health Agency designated six military hospitals and clinics as Specialty Care Centers of Excellence to concentrate expertise in complex specialties, improve patient outcomes, and strengthen clinical readiness through regional referral networks; Naval Medical Center San Diego is among the inaugural sites. For Navy Medicine, the initiative reinforces a strategy of concentrating high-acuity care at select centers to sustain provider clinical currency, enhance readiness for complex wartime care, and create standardized pathways for specialty referrals across the Military Health System.
https://dha.mil/News/2026/06/25/13/02/Six-military-hospitals-and-clinics-recognized-as-CoEs
Finance Friday Articles
- Deploying Your Assets in Retirement
- Estimated Tax Penalties Aren’t Always Final — Here’s How to Shrink Them
- Here’s My Investment Philosophy. What’s Yours?
- Is $5M in Treasury Bills Enough to Be Set for Life?
- Leverage in the Stock Market
- Running out of road to kick the Social Security can
- The TSP Tax Surprise Many Federal Retirees Don’t See Coming
- What Happens if My Password Manager Gets Hacked?
- Why Are Investors Holding More Cash?
- Why I Went to Half-Time as a Physician and How I Made It Work as My Family’s Sole Earner
- Working with Your Parents to Get Richer
Debate over women in combat prompts NDAA battles
BLUF – The article examines competing FY27 NDAA amendments addressing women in combat roles, with one proposal seeking to preserve access to all military occupations regardless of gender while another would require sex-neutral physical standards and impose higher standards for ground combat positions; neither House amendment advanced, but similar provisions remain under consideration in the Senate. The issue is particularly relevant because women comprise a substantial portion of the Navy Medicine workforce, and any future changes to combat assignment policies or occupational standards could have downstream effects on career opportunities, leadership pipelines, staffing, and force management across the medical community.
All military recruits are once again required to get flu shots
BLUF – The article reports that the Pentagon has partially reversed its April policy making influenza vaccination voluntary by authorizing the military services to require flu vaccines for recruits and other high-risk groups after a significant outbreak at Air Force basic training, while leaving the vaccine optional for most service members. For military healthcare leaders, the decision underscores the continued role of force health protection in operational readiness and places military medical personnel at the center of implementing targeted vaccination policies, outbreak response, and clinical risk assessments for vulnerable populations.
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/military-flu-vaccines-mandate-2026
Reminder to Graduating Residents – You are Now Eligible for GMO Incentive Pay
Congratulations to those who graduated residency. Medical Corps officers who complete initial residency on active duty are eligible for the General Medical Officer (GMO) Incentive Pay (IP) the day after completing residency. For those who complete residency while not on active duty (NADDS), they are eligible on they day they report to their permanent command.
This means you need to go to your Special Pays coordinator, if you haven’t already, and apply for the GMO IP.
DoD scraps plan to privatize commissaries
BLUF – The Pentagon has abandoned its proposal to privatize military commissaries after determining that no private company could preserve the required grocery savings for military families while operating the system profitably, and that privatization could degrade readiness and quality-of-life benefits. While not directly affecting healthcare delivery, the decision preserves an important component of military compensation and family support, reinforcing the broader connection between quality-of-life programs, force readiness, and the recruitment and retention of military healthcare professionals.
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 