FY28 Promotion Board Deferment for Medical Department Officers
I don’t see any reason someone in Navy Medicine would want to request deferment, but I wanted to put the message out. Perhaps back in the day when some communities were overmanned and people were getting separated after failing to select twice, but that is not the situation we are in nowadays. I don’t see anyone (unless they are in trouble) getting kicked out, so you might as well be considered for promotion. That is my $0.02 anyway.
Fair Winds and Following Seas to RADM Freedman – RADM Case is Acting Surgeon General of Navy
Navy Medicine Shipmates,
As I step away from a military career that began in 1989, my heart is full of gratitude. Reflecting on nearly four decades of service, I am struck by the incredible evolution of our force and moved by the spirit and quality of the people I have been privileged to serve alongside.
Whether you are a hospital corpsman, a physician, dentist, nurse, administrator, clinician, scientist, civilian or contractor, you are the lifeblood of this organization. With steadfast dedication to our mission, each one of you contributes more than you know – you are the reason we remain the finest Navy in the world.
I remain profoundly humbled to have been part of this incredible team, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with men and women who sacrifice so much to ensure the health and readiness of our Sailors and Marines. As I depart, I remain confident in and excited about the future of Navy Medicine.
As I leave, Navy Medicine will be in the steady hands of Rear Adm. Matthew Case who will serve as Acting Surgeon General. He is a familiar face to all of you, having served as executive assistant to the 39th Surgeon General, as Commander, Naval Medical Forces Atlantic, and most recently as acting Deputy Director of the Defense Health Agency. He is intimately familiar with the complexities of our mission and brings a level of expertise and a genuine passion for serving our warfighters that is second to none. You are in good hands.
Thank you for your dedication and sacrifices, your excellence, and your friendship. It has been the journey of a lifetime. I would do it all again without any hesitation. It has been an honor serving with you.
Fair winds and following seas, Navy Medicine. Go Win Today!
Sincerely,
RADM Rick Freedman
Dental Corps, United States Navy
Acting Surgeon General of the Navy
Acting Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Matthew Case, a native of Nottingham, New Hampshire, poses for an official portrait as the acting Navy Surgeon General; acting chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery; Director, Medical Service Corps. Navy Medicine’s 44,000+ talented and ready forces optimize health readiness, deliver quality healthcare, and provide global expeditionary medical support to warfighters from point of injury to higher roles of care. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sasha Ambrose)
Expanded Operational Stress Control and Warrior Toughness
BLUF – The Navy has released the Warrior Toughness Playbook. Warrior Toughness is the Navy’s program for giving
Sailors the tools to perform under pressure and in the daily grind. It is built on four pillars: Toughness, Resilience,
Optimizing Performance, and Mitigating Stress.
The Operational Imperative That Almost Wasn’t
BLUF – The article argues that the Pentagon’s new Warfighter Performance Optimization initiative builds on more than a decade of work by U.S. Special Operations Command’s Preservation of the Force and Family (POTFF) program and the Army’s Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) model, moving human performance, cognitive readiness, and brain health from isolated programs to enterprise-level readiness requirements with standardized metrics and accountability. For Navy Medicine, the key takeaway is that military healthcare is increasingly expected to support force readiness beyond traditional clinical care by embedding expertise in human performance, cognitive optimization, injury prevention, nutrition, and data-driven readiness programs directly alongside operational units.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/operational-imperative-almost-wasnt-mary-womack-8mhxe
Academic Year 2026-2027 DARK TRIDENT Call for Applications
This seems like a line focused initiative, but Staff Corps Officers seem to be eligible to apply…
Tips to Get Selected for GME
I’ve lost count of how many GME selection boards I’ve participated in (it is either 7 or 8). Based on my experience, here are my tips for people looking to match for GME in the future. We’ll cover general tips and those specific for medical students and those returning from an operational tour:
General Tips
- Be realistic about your chances of matching. If you are applying to a competitive specialty and you’ve failed a board exam or had to repeat a year in medical school, you are probably not going to match in that specialty. There are some specialties where you can overcome a major blight on your record, but there are some where you can’t. If this is applicable to you, the residency director or specialty leader should be able to give you some idea of your chances. Will they be honest and direct with you? I’m not sure, but it can’t hurt to ask.
- If you are having trouble matching in the Navy for GME, you may have a better chance as a civilian. By the time you pay back your commitment to the Navy, you are a wiser, more mature applicant that some civilian residency programs might prefer over an inexperienced medical student. You’ll also find some patriotic residency programs, usually with faculty who are prior military, that may take you despite your academic struggles. Many people who “are never going to match” do so in the civilian match. Trust me.
Tips for Medical Students
- Do everything you can to do a rotation with the GME program you want to match at. You want them to know who you are.
- When you are applying, make sure your 2nd choice is not a popular internship (like Orthopedics). If you don’t match in your 1st choice and your 2nd choice is a popular internship, then it will likely have filled during the initial match. This means you get put in the “intern scramble” and you’ll likely wind up in an internship you didn’t even list on your application.
- If you don’t match, your backup plan should be an alternative program at the same site where you eventually want to match for residency. For example, in my specialty (Emergency Medicine or EM) we only have residencies at NMCP and NMCSD. If someone doesn’t match for an EM internship at NMCP or NMCSD, they will have a better chance of eventually matching for EM residency if they do an internship locally, like a transitional internship. Internships at Walter Reed or any other hospital without an EM program are quality programs, but it is much easier to “pledge the fraternity” if you are physically present and can get to know people, attending conferences and journal clubs when you can.
- You need to apply to civilian residency programs. You don’t want to find out that you were given a NADDS deferment but you didn’t apply for civilian residency programs. This happens to people all the time. Don’t be that student.
Tips for Applicants Returning from Operational Tours
- You should show up whenever you can for conferences and journal clubs. Again, you want them to know who you are. By attending these events you demonstrate your commitment to the specialty and their program.
- Always get a warfare device (if one is available) during your operational tour. Not having it when one was available is a red flag.
- Closely examine the GME note and by-site goals. You may see that some specialties are offering full-time outservice (FTOS) or civilian deferment (RAD-to-NADDS). If you are in one of these specialties, you need to consider applying for civilian residency programs. If you are unsure, you should probably talk to the specialty leader for whatever specialty you are applying for. There is often a shortage of people willing to enter civilian training. If you are willing to do so, it could get you selected for the specialty you want. Make sure that they specialty leader is aware you will take a civilian deferment if one is offered to you, and make sure you apply to the civilian match.
Fair winds and following seas to Rear Adm. Freedman after 35 years of service
BLUF – Rear Adm. Rick Freedman retired after 35 years of service in the Navy Dental Corps, concluding a career that included serving as the 39th Chief of the Navy Dental Corps, Acting Navy Surgeon General, Deputy Surgeon General, and Acting Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, with leadership roles spanning operational deployments, military treatment facilities, and the Defense Health Agency. For Navy Medicine, his career reflects the increasing importance of developing clinicians who can lead across operational, clinical, and enterprise levels, demonstrating how diverse leadership experience prepares officers to guide the Medical Department through periods of transformation while maintaining readiness.
Facial Hair Grooming Standards Updates
BLUF – NAVADMIN 140/26 announces the policy and procedures for the resubmission and reevaluation of all religious accommodation requests for facial hair in accordance with the “Grooming Standards for Facial Hair Implementation” memo issued by SECWAR August 20, 2025.
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