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“Full” 2.1% Pay Raise in 2017
Here’s an article from Military Times about our pay raise and a PDF of the new pay table:
New in 2017: Expect rigorous debate over military pay and benefits
By: Leo Shane III, Military Times, December 27, 2016
For the first time since 2013, military personnel in January will see a “full” pay raise equal to the expected increase in private sector wages. But it remains unclear whether this is a sign of better benefits and compensation in years to come.
How Congress and the new president treat military pay and benefits will be an issue worth service members’ attention in the year ahead, since the moves will directly affect their families’ finances.
President-elect Donald Trump has already promised to boost military spending, including more personnel and equipment. He has also promised that the country will “take care of the military” better than under President Barack Obama.
Outside advocates hope this means protecting military compensation.
In recent years, Pentagon leaders trimmed expected increases for housing stipends and basic pay to instead redirect hundreds of millions of dollars to modernization and training efforts. Military officials have said it’s a distasteful but necessary tradeoff, given shortfalls in the defense budget.
But troops’ advocates and some lawmakers have said it needlessly burdens troops and their families. They successfully fought a lower pay raise proposal for 2017, and pushed back against plans for a complete overhaul of housing stipends which could have taken away thousands of dollars annually from some troops.
With the new administration they’ll push Trump’s Pentagon to hold personnel costs separate from major weapons purchases, and hope to recoup some of the lost trims in the years to come.
Promotion Zones Officially Released. Game On!
BLUF – If you are above zone, in zone, or below zone for a FY18 promotion board, it is time to download the Promo Prep Document, read it, and do what it says to make sure you’re ready for the board.
The FY18 promotion zones have been officially released:
NOTICE OF CONVENING FY-18 NAVY ACTIVE-DUTY PROMOTION SELECTION BOARDS
This message announces the promotion board dates:
- 7 FEB 2017 Staff Corps Captain (Board #170)
- 28 MAR 2017 – Staff Corps Commander (Board #265)
- 16 MAY 2017 – Staff Corps Lieutenant Commander (Board #300)
Here is what it says about the promotion zones:
The Secretary of the Navy has authorized the release of the following list indicating the names, Active-Duty List numbers and dates of rank of the Senior in-zone, Junior in-zone and Junior officer eligible for consideration for promotion in each competitive category as of the date of this NAVADMIN. In addition, those officers on the Active-Duty List and in the same competitive category who are senior to the Senior in-zone officer listed in their category are considered above-zone and are also eligible for consideration.
CAPT Staff Corps Zones for Board #170
Senior in-zone – CDR S. Ashby 022916-50 01 OCT 2011
Junior in-zone – CDR J. Miller 023124-00 01 SEP 2012
Junior eligible – CDR B. A. Waterman 023610-75 01 SEP 2014
CDR Staff Corps Zones for Board #265
Senior in-zone – LCDR A. J. Owings II 037432-50 01 OCT 2011
Junior in-zone – LCDR A. M. Dicarlomeacham 038187-50 01 SEP 2012
Junior eligible – LCDR J. M. Carness 040050-00 01 SEP 2014
LCDR Staff Corps Zones for Board #300
Senior in-zone LT S. M. Simmons 112278-00 26 OCT 2011
Junior in-zone – LT T. B. Kiner 117814-00 17 SEP 2012
Junior eligible LT J. D. Gutierrez 130542-00 11 AUG 2014
If you don’t understand how to figure out where you are in the zones, just download the Promo Prep document. It will tell you how to figure it out with your date of rank.
Also of note, BUPERS On-Line will be undergoing maintenance for the next two weeks.
Director of Medical Services Position at NMC Portsmouth – O5/O6 Position
Director of Medical Services at NMC Portsmouth will be vacated in spring/summer 2017. To be eligible to apply, members must already be at NMCP or up for orders and must coordinate with their Detailer/Specialty Leader.
The qualified officer should be a CDR or CAPT, have senior leadership experience, and a keen understanding for the governance of hospital operations. Interested candidates should submit via e-mail a letter of intent, CV, BIO, PRIMS data, and their last three fitreps or letters of recommendation (no more than three total) no later than 1 FEB 2017 to Ms. Carley Schneider (e-mail address can be found in the global address book).
The position description is here:
National Capital Region Chief Medical Officer Position – O6
The position description is here. Interested parties need to send their CV/BIO/LOI/OSR/PSR to their Detailer or Specialty Leader by 5 Jan 2017. You need to be on-station in the National Capital Region summer 2017.
Chief, DoD Medical Exam Review Board – CAPT/CAPT(s)
The position description is here. This billet is located in Colorado Springs, CO. The rank requirement is O-6 or O-6 select. Interested parties must send their CV/Bio/Letter of Intent/OSR/PSR through their Detailer or Specialty Leader by 19 Dec 2016.
Special Pay Details and Request Templates
The BUMED Special Pays site has been updated and now says this:
2 Dec 16: The FY17 NAVADMIN (262/17) was released on 1Dec16. The attached FY17 Pay Plans are below, and explain the conversion and eligibility for the new Consolidated Special Pays. All requests must be endorsed and emailed to the below email address along with any questions.
usn.ncr.bumedfchva.mbx.specialpays-bumed@mail.mil
In addition, here are some templates one of the officers in my community got from BUMED yesterday:
Board Certified Pay CO Endorsement
Incentive Pay Request – CO Endorsement
NATO Position in Budapest – CAPT(s)/CAPT Only
Military Medicine Centre of Excellence Lessons Learned Branch Chief Position Description
The location for the position is Budapest, Hungary and the rank requirement is not waiverable. Interested applicants should contact their Detailer or Specialty Leader NLT 6 Jan 2017 and be prepared to report NLT 1 July 2017, although they prefer a June arrival.
The POCs for questions/inquiries about this position are CAPT Carlos Williams and LCDR Arcelia Wicker (both can be found in mail.mil global e-mail address book – I don’t post e-mails publicly to avoid spam).
Deadline Extended to 15 DEC – Director of Combat Casualty Care Research Program
“Deadline Extended” is code for “no one applied or wants this job.” It might be easier to get for an aspiring CDR, CDR(s), or even a senior LCDR. Who knows. Can’t hurt to ask. Here is the original info on this position:
USU’s Health Professions Education Degree Program Seeks Providers
(Re-posted from this link.)
The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences is seeking military health care professionals who would like to gain expertise in leadership, research and theories in one of the university’s new innovative and dynamic graduate programs.
Last year, USU’s F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine launched the Master of Health Professions Education and the Doctor of Philosophy in Health Professions Education as it became clear there was a need for leaders with academic skills within all military services. Many senior-ranking physician educators and program leaders had retired, separated from the military, or had changed their career path. These new degree programs offer a chance for military providers to fulfill that need in the military health system, and become educational leaders and scholars.
“Those who complete these programs will be very well prepared to serve as academic leaders, such as program directors, clerkship directors, service chiefs, chairs, or educational deans,” explained Dr. Steven Durning, director of graduate programs in HPE. “They’ll also contribute to the continuous advancement of health professions education and research in the MHS as well as in the civilian community.”
The programs are geared toward active duty military personnel who are health professionals, including physicians, nurses, dentists, as well as Defense Department civilian health professionals working in the MHS or the Public Health Service. The programs can be completed on a part- or full-time basis, and blend face-to-face coursework and practicum opportunities with a robust online learning community. The programs focus on a number of competencies, including leadership, scholarship and research, teaching, learning and assessment, and communication.
“Our HPE programs are staff by a world-class faculty who have published more than 500 peer-reviewed journal articles and have won more than $30 million in grant funding for educational research,” said Dr. Louis Pangaro, chair of USU’s department of medicine, which oversees the degree program.
Military health care professionals are “highly regarded, exceptional leaders who are committed to intellectual development and professional growth,” Durning said.
Advanced degrees in health professions education are also increasingly emphasized as a requirement for academic leadership positions throughout the nation’s medical educational system, he added, and so these programs are expected to have a lasting impact on both the MHS and the civilian community.
Improving Educational Methods
The first student to enroll in the PhD program, Dr. Matthew D’Angelo, agreed with those sentiments. He is an assistant professor and Interim Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing, and has been teaching graduate level nursing for the last decade.
“The HPE program has offered countless experiences where I’m given the opportunity to reflect on how I, and the programs within the GSN, deliver curriculum and how it is evaluated,” D’Angelo said.
The program has helped him conceptualize and develop online teaching materials for austere anesthesia, he said. In turn, he has created a new faculty orientation seminar, covering a variety of topics in education.
What he most enjoys about the program is learning the basis of “why” he teaches the way he teaches.
“I think good teaching is often intuitive, but the administration of education is far more complex … I (now) think differently about how I teach and how we instruct our advanced practice nursing students.”
He added that the workload has been challenging, requiring a breadth of understanding in a range of topics, but the faculty have been supportive.
“Modern education is far more complex that it was 20 years ago,” he said. “As we, as a society, move to competency-based education, faculty will need to be versed in rigorous assessment techniques and have a solid foundation in curriculum design … The HPE program, by far, will be an asset to the university and the future of military health care education.”
Interested health professionals can apply here.
Summary of Specialty Leader Business Meeting
Here is a brief summary of last week’s Specialty Leader Business Meeting that is always held in conjunction with the Graduate Medical Education Selection Board:
- Current interim Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) need to formally apply to the next screening board in summer 2017. I would STRONGLY encourage other people to apply as well because it is a screened/appointed leadership position that allows you to remain clinically active and that I also think will lead to promotion to O6 if done successfully.
- Announcements for nominative positions often come out with very little time until the nominations are due. They all require your CV, BIO, Letter of Intent (LOI), Officer Summary Record (OSR), and Performance Summary Record (PSR). It is best if you have these ready to go due to the often short timeline. I will tell you that I update my CV and military biography monthly and have multiple LOI templates at the ready at all times, so I practice what I preach. Your OSR/PSR can downloaded from BUPERS On-Line anytime, so that requires no prep (assuming BOL is working).
- Current overall Medical Corps manning is 103.4%. This is of no real use to you but is simply an interesting fact/statistic. It does, perhaps, limit our promotion opportunity a lit bit, but…
- The Medical Corps promotion opportunities for FY18 are expected to be higher than they have been in recent years. You never know the actual percentage until the board has concluded, but this is certainly good news.
- As of now, there is no change in the conference approval process. Sorry.
- The Career Intermission Program (CIP) has been extended until 2019. This program allows you to take up to 3 years off from the Navy to do something else, hit the pause button on progression toward promotion, and then return afterward. You have a 2:1 additional commitment for any time off. In other words, if you take 2 years off you’ll owe 4 years when you return. Some people have tried to use the CIP to do fellowships on their own, but that is not the intent of the program and requests for CIP to do a fellowship will be closely scrutinized by BUMED before approval. Info on the program can be found here or you can contact your Detailer.
- There is no special pays update. They are still awaiting the NAVADMIN. The latest can always be found here:
http://www.med.navy.mil/bumed/Special_Pay/Pages/default.aspx
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 