Uncategorized
CNO Gilday Releases Guidance to the Fleet; Focuses on Warfighting, Warfighters, and the Future Navy
WASHINGTON (NNS) — Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Gilday released his initial guidance to the Fleet, Dec. 4.
The guidance was issued via a fragmentary order (FRAGO) and is intended to simplify, prioritize, and build on the foundation of “A Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority 2.0,” issued by Adm. John Richardson in December of 2018.
“Mission One for every Sailor – uniformed and civilian, active and reserve – is the operational readiness of today’s Navy,” said Gilday. “A ready Navy – ready to fight today – with a commitment to training, maintenance, and modernization will ensure a Navy for ready for tomorrow.”
While Gilday said that the Navy’s strategic direction focused on Great Power Competition is sound, this guidance focuses the Navy’s efforts across three areas that are vital to achieving success now and in the future: warfighting, warfighters, and the future Navy.
Warfighting: A Navy that is ready to win across the full range of military operations. We must have a Fleet that is manned, trained, equipped, integrated, and ready to meet requirements of our senior leaders at any time. Alongside the Marine Corps, the Navy will deliver decisive Integrated American Naval Power.
Warfighter: A Navy that is world-class. We must recruit, educate, train, and retain America’s most talented men and women. Our people – uniformed and civilian Sailors – are our asymmetric advantage.
Future Navy: A Navy fully prepared to fight and win. Our Navy will be equipped with the right capabilities and numbers to meet the challenges of a complex and competitive maritime environment. We will look at what is required to operate forward, build the Fleet to match, and train together until we achieve integrated combat power across the force.
“Together with the United States Marine Corps, our Navy is the bedrock of Integrated American Naval Power,” said Gilday. “I am confident that we will maximize the Navy we have today while delivering the Navy that our nation needs and will rely upon tomorrow – and we will do so with urgency.”
The guidance also focuses on building alliances and partnerships to broaden and strengthen global maritime awareness and access.
“Combined with a robust constellation of allies and partners who desire to build and strengthen the international economic order, we are operating towards the same end – continued security and stability that results in a free and open maritime commons,” said Gilday. “We will continue to partner and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with all nations who share a mutual respect for and adherence to international law as well as a vision of free and open maritime commons.”
To read Fragmentary Order 01/2019 in its entirety, click here.
To download a one-page infographic, click here.
Get more information about the Navy from US Navy facebook or twitter.
For more news from Chief of Naval Operations, visit www.navy.mil/local/cno/.
DOD Officials Testify on Military Health System Reform
Here’s a link to a summary article:
Changes to military health care system aimed at readiness
Here’s a link to the Congressional testimony:
DOD Officials Testify on Military Health System Reform
The Navy SG gives his opening remarks at the 25:30 minute mark, if you want to focus, although the whole thing is informative but admittedly long. They discuss:
- Billet cuts (start at 37 minutes or so)
- Access to mental health and suicide
- Access to OB/GYN
- Access autism services
- MTF realignment
- DHA transition
- Surgical readiness
Finance Friday Articles
Here are my favorites this week:
Are You Leaving Money On The Table?
Making the Call – Roth vs Traditional
The Ultimate Productivity Hack is Saying No
Here are the rest of this week’s articles:
6 TRICARE Resources You Might Not Know About
All-Time Highs Are Both Scary & Normal
A Primer on Real Estate Professional Status for Physicians
Beyond Fee-Only: 7 Things to Know About the Advice-Only Model
Bull Markets Last Much Longer Than You Think
How to Fast FIRE Your Way to Generational Wealth – Part I
How We Went From Full-Time Physicians to Semi-Retired MDs
How Your TRICARE Costs Will Change in 2020
I Made $15 Million Before I Was 30, And It Wasn’t As Awesome As You’d Think
Make these Five Tax Moves Before December 31st
Six Principles of Asset Location
Smart Career Alternatives and Retirement for Physicians
Strategies To Consider When Building An Effective Retirement Income Plan
Student Loan Advice: 7 Rules of Thumb
The Code, Conflicts, and Client Interest
There’s Always a Bear Market Somewhere
What Causes Physician Burnout? The Medscape Survey
Where Have All The Stock Market Returns Come From This Decade?
Why Opportunity Fund Investors Shouldn’t Settle for High Fees
Why the best person to give you money advice may NOT be an accountant or financial adviser
Throwback Thursday Classic Post – Types of Deployments
This post will help you learn all that you can about deployments. I’ve done three deployments, one as a General Medical Officer (GMO) during the initial invasion of Iraq, and two after residency. In 2010, I deployed with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and in 2016 I deployed to Guantanamo Bay (GTMO). In addition, as both a Detailer and Emergency Medicine Specialty Leader I’ve deployed a number of physicians, so I’m pretty familiar with all the details of the current deployment situation.
In the current operational environment, there are a few types of deployments. They include platform-based deployments, individual augmentee (IA) deployments, global support assignment (GSA) deployments, and what I’ll call parent unit deployments.
Let’s deal with the last one first because it is the easiest to explain. For what I’ll call a parent unit deployment, you deploy when your parent unit deploys. For example, if you are assigned to the Marine Corps with a MEU, when that MEU deploys so do you. You go with the unit you are primarily assigned to. The same could be said for a medical battalion, a Preventive Medicine Unit, and many other units.
A platform-based deployment happens to people who are stationed at Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Commands/Units (NMRTC/NMRTUs). Some people who are primarily stationed at NMRTCs are assigned to what is called a “platform.” A platform is an operational unit of some kind. It could be the MERCY or COMFORT, a Marine Corps unit, an Expeditionary Medical Facility, etc. In essence, it is an operational unit who “owns” you if they get activated or deployed. In other words, if your platform is a medical battalion and that medical battalion gets deployed, you would go with them because it is your platform. If your platform regularly drills or does exercises, since it is your platform you may have to participate in these drills and get pulled away from your primary duties at your NMRTC.
How is it decided whether you get placed on a platform, and if so which one? The main determinant is most likely which billet you get orders into. Some billets at NMRTCs have secondary assignments to platforms. For example, the billet I was in at NMRTC Portsmouth was “mobilized to” or “MOB’ed to” an Expeditionary Medical Facility. That was my platform. To be honest, sometimes commands will rearrange platforms, so it is not always determined by the billet you are in. If you want to know if you are on a platform, you will have to go to your command’s Plans, Operations, Medical Intelligence or POMI officer. They are the ones who manage platforms and can tell you if you are on one.
Platform based deployments are the wave of the future in Navy Medicine, and you can expect an increased focus on platforms, platforms training, and deployments as a platform.
An individual augmentee or IA deployment is when a request in placed by an operational unit somewhere for an individual person, you are selected to fill that requirement, and you individually augment that unit. When they deploy, you deploy with them as an IA but stay attached administratively to your parent command. In other words, if you are at NMRTC Portsmouth but deploy as an IA, you stay attached to NMRTC Portsmouth the entire time you are deployed. This is the type of deployment most of us have experienced for the majority of our career, but the Navy is trying to get out of the “IA business” and is shifting, as already mentioned, to platforms.
The final type of deployment is a global support assignment (GSA). With this type, you detach from your current command, move or execute a permanent change of station (PCS) to a processing center that becomes your new military command, and then you are given orders to deploy. For example, my last deployment was a GSA. I detached from Navy Personnel Command, my old command, PCS’ed to my new command, the processing center in Norfolk, and then was given deployment orders to go to my unit in GTMO. During this time my parent command was Expeditionary Combat Readiness Center or ECRC, the processing center, and they were primarily responsible for my fitreps and pay issues.
The unique part of a GSA deployment is that pretty much as soon as you report to the processing center you have to contact your Detailer and Specialty Leader to get orders to your next command. The GSA orders usually only last up to a year, and you’ll need orders so you can PCS to your next command when you get back from the deployment. This is the major downside that people complain about with a GSA…the fact that you get PCS orders and have to leave your old command, which people may not want to do. On the other hand, it can be a major benefit. If you are stationed somewhere you don’t want to be, volunteering for a GSA can get you out of there because you’ll PCS away. In addition, because you are volunteering or accepting a deployment, it may give you some leverage with the Detailer or Specialty Leader. For example, you could say, “I’ll deploy on this GSA, but only if you are willing to write me orders to Hawaii as follow-on orders.” That may not always work, but it is worth a try.
Those are the major types of deployments that currently exist, and here are some additional resources:
CNO Message to the Force: We Must Be Protectors and Exemplify Our Values
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday
Mission one for every Sailor — active and reserve, uniformed and civilian — is the operational readiness of today’s Navy. That means being ready both in our personal and professional lives — and part of that readiness is continuing to hold ourselves to high ideals of integrity and service.
Reflecting on my first three months as chief of naval operations, I want each and every Sailor to think about who we are as a Navy and the constitutional oath we commit ourselves to. That oath is what binds us together. It is the foundation of our profession. It is our north star. It defines us.
It is no overstatement to say that naval service requires deeper and broader knowledge than it ever has before. You must summon all your energy to ensure that we are ready to fight today; not tomorrow, not in some distant future but today. That all starts with good order and discipline at every level of the chain of command.
To be clear, we must be men and women of integrity. We must be honorable. We must be standard-bearers. We must be above reproach. And we must not give anyone cause to question our fundamental values. That is what sets us apart as a fighting force.
Leaders, I am counting on you. I expect commanders at every level to epitomize integrity and exemplify our core values at all times. Senior enlisted leaders, I expect you to anchor up and show your Sailors what right looks like on the deck-plates, day-in and day-out. And I expect every Sailor to display the character and honor that has always defined our Navy. These ideals are central to who we are.
The responsibility for ethical and professional behavior must be taken seriously — and we must own it at every level. We must be protectors and exemplify our values.
I’m counting on each of you to set a strong personal example of responsible behavior, both on and off duty.
While there is much work to be done, the tenacity and ingenuity of our Sailors will take us where we need to go — and do so at a flank bell.
See you in the fleet.
Market-Based Approach Driving DHA Forward in MTF Transition
Here’s a link to the article about the DHA transition:
A Simple and Military Specific Summary of How to Save for Retirement
I’m a huge fam of Jim Lange. He’s a noted expert in financial management, saving for retirement, and estate planning. He’s written a number of books
He sends out a monthly newsletter that I get via snail mail, and it usually has a useful article in it. If you want it, you can get it here.
A previous edition had a section called “Jim’s Point-by-Point Summary of the Whole Retirement & Estate Planning Process.” It was simple but extremely useful. Below in bold are each of the points he lists for people who are still working, which is most of my readership. Let’s take each bolded point and militarize it for you so it is specific to those of us in the military.
Contribute at least the amount to your retirement plan that your employer is willing to match or partially match.
For those under the legacy retirement plan, this is not an option. For those under the new Blended Retirement System (BRS), you need to contribute 5% of your basic pay to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) to get the pull 5% DoD match:
You also need to make sure you contribute 5% every month and don’t fill the TSP too early. If you max it out in October, you won’t get a match in November or December.
If you can afford to, contribute the maximum allowed to your retirement plan even if your employer does not match.
This is $19,500 in 2020. You can do an extra $6,500 if you are 50 or over. You can even do more if you are in a combat zone.
Once you have maximized contributions to your plan at work, contribute the maximum you can to an IRA, even if you cannot take a tax deduction on it.
If you are able to fill your TSP account, next you’ll need to open an IRA at an investment firm. Vanguard is the obvious choice due to their across the board low investment fees and unique non-profit structure, but you can do this anywhere (Schwab, Fidelity, etc.).
If you make too much to contribute to a Roth IRA, you just use the back door Roth IRA option.
Consider your personal tax bracket when trying to decide if you should contribute to a Roth or a traditional IRA/retirement plan.
With a traditional plan, you take a tax deduction now and pay taxes later when you take the money out. With a Roth plan you pay the taxes now and the withdrawals are completely tax free.
The general principle is that if you are in a lower tax bracket now than when you are retired, you do the Roth. If you are in a higher tax bracket now, you use the traditional.
No one really knows what the future holds, though, making this decision tough. Here are some resources for you to check out when making this decision:
Traditional/Roth TSP Comparison Matrix
Roth vs. Traditional IRAs: A Comparison
Do not take loans against your retirement plan. Allow the tax-deferred or tax-free status of the account to maximize the growth of your money.
While the TSP allows loans, I refuse to link to any information about it. Once you put money away for retirement, you don’t borrow from it unless it is an ABSOLUTE EMERGENCY.
Period.
The Bottom Line
Here are the point-by-point summary of steps Jim Lange suggests you take if you are saving for retirement:
- Contribute at least the amount to your retirement plan that your employer is willing to match or partially match, which is 5% of basic pay in the BRS.
- If you can afford to, contribute the maximum allowed to your retirement plan even if your employer does not match, which is $19,500 in the TSP ($26,000 if you’re 50+).
- Once you have maximized contributions to your plan at work, contribute the maximum you can to an IRA, even if you cannot take a tax deduction on it. Use a back door Roth IRA if you need to.
- Consider your personal tax bracket when trying to decide if you should contribute to a Roth or a traditional IRA/retirement plan.
- Do not take loans against your retirement plan. Allow the tax-deferred or tax-free status of the account to maximize the growth of your money.
MHS Female Physician Leadership Course – Call for Nominations
We are announcing the call for nominations for the 2020 MHS Female Physician Leadership Course (FPLC) to be held April 15-17, 2020 at Defense Health Headquarters in Falls Church, VA. The target audience is Active Duty and Reserve female physicians (MD/DO) in the grades of O-4 select to junior O-5 (less than 2 years’ time in grade).
The nomination form, course details, and the formal advertisement are all here:
Please follow the instructions on the nomination form carefully. Submit packages as a single PDF to CAPT Nicole McIntyre (contact info is in the global) by COB (EST) on 15 JAN 2020.
Finance Friday Articles
Here’s an article about the upcoming change in the TSP I Fund. They are adding emerging markets like China to the I Fund’s international stock holdings:
Viewpoint: Let’s Keep a Level Playing Field for TSP Investors
Here are my favorite articles of the week:
Step By Step Guide to Opening a Brokerage Account
The 1% Rule and How It Can Save You Time When Evaluating Rental Properties
Here are the rest of this week’s articles:
10 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Investments
Conflicts of Interest: Are You Getting Good Advice?
Creating a Dynasty: Building Family Wealth Across Generations
How much can we earn in retirement without paying federal income taxes?
If It Doesn’t Cash Flow, Don’t Buy It
Missing the Target with Target Date Funds
Monte Carlo Analysis: Understanding What You’re Dealing With
Oldies But Goodies – Financial Books You Should Read
The End of the Year Unwanted Payday
This Anesthesiologist Retired At 43 By Avoiding The Normal Traps That Trip-Up Doctors’ Savings
This Law Lowers Interest Rates for Active Duty Servicemembers
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 