Author: Joel Schofer, MD, MBA, CPE
FY22 Leadership Course Catalog
The annual Medical Corps leadership course catalog is here:
Please direct inquiries and applications to CAPT Anthony Keller (contact in the global) until 20 October 2021, then to the new Career Planner, CAPT Rhett Barrett (contact in the global) thereafter.
Finance Friday Articles
- 2 ways to use retirement money early
- 5 Reasons Doctors Prefer Passive Real Estate Investing
- 2022 Retirement Plan Contribution Limits
- Examining the Bucket System for Retirement
- Investing Expenses Have Never Been Better
- Most Common Financial Trade Offs
- The Age-Old Annuity Puzzle
- The Best Strategy to Build Wealth Is Offense-Defense-Offense
- The New Economics – Why Deficits Don’t Matter
- Why Do Stablecoins Offer Such High Rates of Interest?
Call for Assistant Specialty Leader for Surface Medicine and Volunteers to Help Process Surface OMO Applications
As the transition to straight-through GME begins, the role of the operational Specialty Leaders has increased in scope and impact. We are soliciting applications for Assistant Specialty Leader (ASL) for Surface Medicine. The ASL will work closely with the SL (CAPT Mark Lenart, contact in the global) to fill key surface medicine positions each year, liaising with the SL and TYCOMs to ensure the most qualified candidates are assigned to serve our surface forces. Please email LCDR Jennifer Eng-Kulawy (contact in the global) by COB 17 SEP 2021 with a CV, military bio, PDFs of your Officer Summary Record (OSR) and Performance Summary Record (PSR), and a letter of intent indicating your desire for selection, prior operational experience, as well as several sentences explaining your desire to fill this role. There are no geographic limitations as the ASL role is a collateral duty. Please contact the current SL, CAPT Mark Lenart, with any questions about the role of Assistant SL.
Additionally, there is a short-term need for volunteers to assist CAPT Lenart during the current Operational Medical Officer (OMO) cycle (through December 2021). No operational experience is required and the time-frame for the commitment is limited to CY 2021. Again, there are no geographic limitations and anyone from anywhere can help out. All you need is time, an internet connection, and a desire to help shape the new Surface Force Medical Officer application process. Please contact CAPT Lenart with your interest or with any questions.
Holiday Message from ASD(HA)
MHS Colleagues,
Labor Day is unique among Federal holidays in that it doesn’t honor a historical event or a person or a people, but rather, an activity: work, or, the struggles of work. The holiday was borne out of a recognition of the struggles of the American worker at the height of the Industrial Revolution.
This year, Labor Day reminds me of work that was hardly recognized in the late 19th century: the solemn work of caring for and saving lives. In the midst of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, I am intensely aware of the work you do and the physical and mental exhaustion many health care workers are experiencing. I am deeply appreciative of the labors and sacrifices each and every one of you make in order to provide world-class care to our Service members, retirees, their families, and to the Nation.
We did not expect that this pandemic would rage on for as long as it has, with an end not quite in sight thanks to the Delta variant, and many not accepting the gift that are the COVID-19 vaccines. Our nation has called upon you again: to fully vaccinate our Service member population, to treat the influx of COVID-19 patients, to surge to hotspots around the country to ease overburdened local healthcare facilities, and to bring forward and care for tens of thousands of Afghans in their new home, our United States of America.
Countless healthcare workers are burned out and leaving the workforce. Their labor, our labor, is often thankless and heartbreaking, causing them to step away. Not so for the Military Health System.
We continue to call upon you, to ask for your tireless effort. Know that it is deeply appreciated by the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, the Chairman and all our other senior leaders. For those of you working this weekend: thank you. For those of you who are not, I hope this holiday brings you some rest and time for reflection.
Your labor has saved and will continue to save many lives. Our nation is grateful and healthier for it. Please let me know how I can support you as we continue our shared work.
Terry
Terry Adirim, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.
Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
Department of Defense
SG Message – Answering the Call…Any Time or Place
Esteemed Shipmates,
Like many of you I watched the footage of the last plane leaving Afghanistan with a whirlwind of emotions. That C-17 lifting off at 3:29 pm (EST) on August 30th marked the end of our Nation’s longest war. Over the last two decades our One Navy Medicine Team played an indispensable role providing frontline care pivotal in saving life and limb. From the immediate combat casualty care on the front lines of the battlefield, the role of FRSS/STPs, to the 11-year command of the NATO Role III Multinational Medical Unit in Kandahar we succeeded in our mission to advance healthcare and surgical needs in an inhospitable environment.
Sadly, this hard-fought war cost this Nation some of its best and brightest. Some 2,461 American military personnel were killed in action in Afghanistan and over 20,000 wounded. Their names, life stories, sacrifice and devotion will remain with us. Reaching any closure is made more difficult with the tragic death of HM3 Maxton Soviak, a 22-year old Corpsman from Berlin Heights, Ohio killed in a terrorist attack at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul last week. We continue to mourn the loss of one of Navy Medicine’s own, as well as the 11 Marines and one Soldier who also perished in the blast. We hope that in time the feelings of anguish will be tempered by the knowledge that they gave their all to protect people in need. In addition, as I write this an extensive search and rescue mission continues for the crew of a helicopter assigned to USS Abraham Lincoln. Please keep them and their families in your thoughts and prayers.
As our chapter in Afghanistan ends, a new one has begun with the care for Afghan evacuees at DoD bases both stateside and overseas. DoD is providing temporary housing, sustainment and support—including medical care—to over 100,000 fleeing Afghans, both young and old. Members of our Navy Medicine team have reported to Marine Corps Base Quantico, Joint Base Fort Dix, Fort Pickett, Camp Atterbury, Indiana, US Naval Air Stations Rota and Sigonella, as well as special camps in Bahrain and Kuwait to screen evacuees for COVID-19, provide vaccinations and medical care, where needed. As this mission continues to develop, we expect other medical personnel will be called upon to support this mission in the coming weeks.
I encourage you to keep our fellow medical colleagues in mind and remember the sacrifices and contributions they make every day. As we enter Labor Day Weekend, we recognize and celebrate the workers of our great Nation. Our military, civilian, and contractor team works hard to support mission success, so if you’re fortunate enough to take some time off and rest – please do so – and also take time to reflect on and appreciate the efforts of those who have the watch. We currently have shipmates deployed to support Operation Afghan Rescue, the earthquake response in Haiti, COVID-19 relief at stateside hospitals, and in service with Fleet or Marine Corps. The One Navy Medicine team continues to answer all bells and do it in a superb manner. Well done shipmates!
With my deepest respect, SG
Bruce L. Gillingham, MD, CPE, FAOA
RADM, MC, USN
Surgeon General, U.S. Navy
Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 