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Stripes.com Article – Navy’s Hospital Ships Will Remain Afloat Despite Talks of Scrapping One to Cut Costs
There was talk of getting rid of the MERCY or COMFORT, but that appears to have changed:
Navy’s Hospital Ships Will Remain Afloat Despite Talks of Scrapping One to Cut Costs
Navy Releases New Parental Leave Program
From Chief of Naval Personnel Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (NNS) — Navy announced the establishment of the Military Parental Leave Program in NAVADMIN 151/18, released June 21. The new program increases parental leave and combines the current family leave policies into one. The Military Parental Leave Program also aligns the Navy with recently released Department of Defense guidance pertaining to changes about parental leave.
Under the new program, parental leave for the secondary caregiver increases from, 10 days to 14 days, and consolidates Adoption Leave MILPERSMAN 1050-420, Paternity Leave MILPERSMAN 1050-430 and Maternity Leave MILPERSMAN 1050-435 into the Military Parental Leave Program MILPERSMAN 1050-415 that will be published at a later date.
The program applies to all active duty Sailors. Reserve Sailors who were performing active duties, or mobilized more than 12 continuous months, and are the parents of a qualifying birth or adoption on or after Dec. 23, 2016 are also eligible.
The three family leave categories under the Military Parental Leave Program are:
* Maternity Convalescent Leave is a six-week (42 days), non-chargeable leave period for the Sailor who gives birth, commencing the first full day after a Sailor is released from the hospital following a birth.
* Primary Caregiver Leave is a six-week (42 days) non-chargeable leave period for the parent who gives birth or is designated with primary responsibility for caring for the child or children following a birth or adoption.
* Secondary Caregiver leave is a two-week (14 days) non-chargeable leave period for the parent not designated with primary responsibility for caring for the child following a birth or adoption.
Details about the leave periods are described in NAVADMIN 151/18.
Based on a command’s readiness requirements, members on or within three months of a deployment will normally have to defer executing Primary and Secondary Caregiver Leave until return of the deployment. Commanding Officers, in extenuating circumstances and where operational requirements allow, may authorize members to take parental leave.
Navy’s parental leave program supports Sailor 2025’s goal of removing obstacles that negatively influence a Sailor’s decision to stay Navy when they are looking to start or raise a family.
Sailor 2025 is the Navy’s program to more effectively recruit, develop, manage, reward and retain the force of tomorrow. It consists of approximately 45 living, breathing initiatives and is built on a framework of three pillars – a modern personnel system, a career learning continuum and career readiness.
More information on Sailor 2025 can be found at http://www.navy.mil/local/cnp/mptestratdesign.asp. For complete details on the parental leave program read NAVADMIN 151/18.
Occupational and Environmental Medicine Fundamentals Course – 10-14 SEPT 2018 – Portsmouth, VA
The Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center (NMCPHC) is excited to announce that
it is sponsoring its third offering of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Fundamentals course September 10-14, 2018 in Portsmouth, Virginia.
The course is intended for physicians that do not have formal occupational medicine training (i.e. occupational medicine residency or experience) who will be practicing in an occupational medicine clinic or have significant occupational medicine-related workload. The course will cover the history of occupational medicine, workplace hazards, risk communication, Navy occupational health programs, worksite visits, and available resources. It will include clinical case break-out sessions.
The NMCPHC will fully fund the students attending the course, including travel.
They are applying for CME/CNE and anticipate the course will be approved for 30.5 credit hours as it has been in the past.
NMCPHC will coordinate with the Regional Program Managers & OEM Specialty Leader to ensure course seats are given to those according to clinic needs, responsibilities, and assigned job requirements.
Please visit the NMCPHC Occupational Medicine Fundamentals Course webpage for more detailed information and student registration request.
Please read the above webpage carefully to answer your questions. If you still have questions not answered by the webpage, please feel free to contact the people below. Their contact info is in the global e-mail directory.
POCs for questions:
Course Director:
Lynn M. Flowers, DO, MS
LCDR, MC, USN
Occupational & Environmental Medicine Physician
Navy & Marine Corps Public Health Center (NMCPHC)
Course Admin:
Ms. Kimberly Little
Program Analyst
Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center
Temporary Work Around to Get the Executive Medicine AQD
The Joint Medical Executive Skills Program website is currently unavailable, making it difficult to get the Executive Medicine (67A) Additional Qualification Designator (AQD). As a temporary fix, they can manually create your profile in their database and update any information such as: education, experience, certifications, etc.
To create your account, they will require your:
- Name (First, MI, Last, Suffix)
- SSN
- DOB
- Corps
- Current Duty Station report date
- Projected Rotation Date
Also, here is a matrix containing information on which competencies you are required to obtain the AQD. It also contains information on how they can be fulfilled.
If you have any questions/concerns, I’d e-mail them here:
Director of Surgical Services at NMCSD – O5/O6
This file has all the details of the position, which is available summer 2018:
There’s an application deadline of 1 JUL 2018.
Here are the CV/BIO/Letter of Intent templates.
Senate Version of FY19 Defense Authorization Bill Disestablishes BUMED
Here is the Senate’s version of the FY 2019 defense authorization bill (S. 2987). If you’re curious like me, you take a document like this and search for key words that might affect your life. Take the word “medicine” for instance…
On page 304 of the document you find this:
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the date on which the Secretary of Defense establishes an operational medical force readiness organization within a military department pursuant to subsection (f), the Secretary of Defense shall, acting through the Secretary of such military department concerned, disestablish the following:
(A) In the case of the Army, the Army Medical Command, and any associated subordinate command or organization.
(B) In the case of the Navy, the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery of the Navy, and any associated subordinate command or organization.
(C) In the case of the Air Force, the Air Force Medical Service, and any associated subordinate command or organization.
Disestablish BUMED, the Army Medical Command, and Air Force Medical Service? Now that’s interesting.
This would occur:
Not later than the date on which the Secretary of Defense establishes an operational medical force readiness organization within a military department
What would happen to us?
(2) TRANSFER OF PERSONNEL AUTHORIZATIONS.—Any personnel authorization of a command or organization disestablished pursuant to paragraph (1) as of the date of disestablishment may be transferred by the Secretary to the Defense Health Agency or any other organization of the Department of Defense considered appropriate by the Secretary, including an operational medical force readiness organization under subsection (f).
This is simply the Senate version and has to be reconciled with the House version. What’s the likelihood that something like this actually becomes law and happens? I have no idea, but the fact that they are thinking about it is certainly something of interest to all of us.
Here’s another article that discusses the medical impacts of the Senate’s proposal:
Senate’s NDAA admonishes DoD for failure to obey prior health reform mandates
Did Senate Panel Go Too Far on Officer Management Reforms?
This is certainly an interesting read by the Military Officers Association of America:
Guest Post: Read Your Orders – Executing a Close Proximity Move
By Dr. G. Adam Jakubek*
I am in the process of a PCS from NH Jacksonville to Kings Bay, and noticed that my Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) would drop significantly based on the change in duty station zip codes. The BAH rates vary depending on your duty station zip code, not your address, so you could see a dip in a few hundred dollars if your duty station changes but elect to keep your home in your prior, higher BAH rate zip code.
I’ve had colleagues PCS to close proximity duty stations and elect to not move their family and miss out on keeping their BAH at their old duty station. Some examples I’ve seen where people see a drop in BAH are PCS moves from San Diego to Camp Pendleton, or the Bethesda/National Capital Area to places like Annapolis or Baltimore where rates drop by $200-300/month.
The current order writing system authorizes funding for a household goods shipment by default if your new duty station is farther than 30 miles away from your prior duty station, but you might prefer to make the commute if it means staying in your home, keeping your kids in the same schools, etc.
My current orders have the following statement attached:
‐ MEMBERS WHO RECEIVE PCS ORDERS WHEN THEIR OLD AND NEW PERMANENT DUTY STATIONS ARE WITHIN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO EACH OTHER (BASED ON A REASONABLE COMMUTE DETERMINED BY THE GAINING CO) MAY BE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE A CLOSE PROXIMITY WAIVER AND RECEIVE BAH BASED ON THEIR OLD PDS LOCATION. SEE NAVADMIN 101/10 FOR WAIVER ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS AND PROCEDURES. GO TO: HTTP://WWW.PUBLIC.NAVY.MIL/BUPERS‐NPC/ REFERENCE/MESSAGES/PAGES/DEFAULT.ASPX.
If you follow the instructions in the NAVADMIN, it is a relatively simple process, but the key is completing the request through your gaining command BEFORE you execute your orders. Your gaining command needs to endorse your request stating that your commute is ‘reasonable’ and you forfeit your household goods shipment, making it a no‐cost PCS move for the government.
Once you receive the signed endorsement letter from your gaining command, you forward that letter directly to your detailer. You’ll get an order modification that drops your household goods shipment funding and states that you’re authorized BAH at your prior duty station rate. Again, make sure you follow up with your detailer prior to checking out of your old command if you haven’t seen your order modification come through in NSIPS. Once you check into your new command PSD or Human Resources department with your modified orders, you’ll be locked into that BAH rate and cannot retroactively request funding for a household goods shipment if you decide to move later on in your tour.
Here are some useful templates to help you with this process:
Close Proximity Approval Letter
Close Proximity Request Letter
*The views expressed in this blog are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense or the United States Government.
My Guest Post on White Coat Investor – Disability Insurance for Military Physicians
Check out my guest post on the White Coat Investor site:
MOAA Post – Defense Bill Would Protect Hundreds of Military Medical, Dental Offices
This is certainly a short but interesting read…
Defense Bill Would Protect Hundreds of Military Medical, Dental Offices
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 