MC Seats in Joint Senior Medical Leader Course
Who: Senior officers who have a potential nomination as a Joint Task Force (JTF) Surgeon or JTF senior medical leader
What: Joint Senior Medical Leader Course (JSMLC)
When: March 21-25, 2022 (In-person)
Where: DHHQ, Falls Church, Virginia (funded by applicant’s command)
Course Description: The course is designed to enhance the preparation of medical leaders, senior O-5 to O-6, who have a high probability of being nominated as a JTF Surgeon, JTF Senior medical leader, or occupy a senior medical planning position in a joint environment. In addition, the course would be valuable for those serving in senior Service departments responsible for the training and preparing of forces for Joint operations and deployment. JSMLC is a demanding, fast paced and interactive program. Speakers will include former JTF Commanders, JTF Surgeons, subject matter experts in major contingency and stability operations, interagency operations, and representatives of Joint Staff Directorates responsible for policy development at the highest levels in DOD.
Additional details here:
Medical Corps is allowed 3-4 seats per course. Prospective applicants should send a CV and BIO to the Medical Corps Career Planner, CAPT Rhett Barrett, for MC nominations NLT January 14th.
Pay Raise, TRICARE Changes, and More: What Made the Cut in This Year’s NDAA
Most relevant to us from this article from MOAA are the following sections:
Temporary one-year halt to military medical billet cuts: This NDAA requires a Government Accountability Office (GAO) evaluation on the DoD analyses used to support any reduction or realignment of military medical manning. DoD is also required to report to Congress on the number of uniformed and civilian personnel assigned to a military treatment facility (MTF) as of Oct. 1, 2019, and a comparable accounting as of Sept. 30, 2022. If the number in 2022 is less than the number in 2019, DoD must provide a full explanation for the reduction to demonstrate compliance with past provisions halting medical billet cuts.
Pay raise: A 2.7% raise for servicemembers keeps pace with the Employment Cost Index (ECI), but does not address the 2.6% gap behind ECI from previous years. The House Rules Committee asked the House Armed Services Committee to look for further increases in the next NDAA, given concerns over junior enlisted family financial problems.
Enhanced parental leave: Primary and secondary caregivers for the birth, adoption, or long-term foster placement of a child will be authorized up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave. This is a significant increase for Navy and Marine Corps secondary caregivers, who currently only have two weeks of parental leave.
2022 BAH Rates and Finance Friday Articles
Here’s the article about the 2022 BAH rates:
Here are the rest of the articles:
- Does Money Buy Happiness?
- Giving Advice for Donating to Charitable Causes
- How to handle COVID-19’s financial impacts
- I Was A Victim Of Bank Fraud – Here’s What Happened
- Living Our Lives in a Dual-Physician Income Household
- Looking Long
- The Bogle Method to Calculate Future Stock Returns
- The Hidden Costs of Free Investment Services
- VA Home Loans Grow in Popularity, But Challenges for Buyers Remain
No, a SECDEF Memo Did Not Change the Time-in-Grade Retirement Requirements
There has been a SECDEF memo flying around the interwebs that is being misinterpreted. People think it might let them retire at the 2-year mark as an O5 or O6, but there has been no change to current policy (which requires 3 years). Here is the response from PERS:
“Some of you have been fielding queries about the attached memo so wanted to address this for everyone. The memo does delegate authority to the Service Secretaries to reduce time in grade requirements. However, this delegation does not equate to Service policy. We are still awaiting on how the Navy will implement any changes in time in grade requirements.
So for now, please inform any folks inquiring about it that no formal Navy policy has been promulgated based on the new authority. And current policy stands.”
I did not attach the memo because this guy is not in the habit of posting SECDEF memos on a public blog.
FY23 Promotion Board Dates, Zones, and Continuation Policy
This NAVADMIN gives you the zones for the FY23 promotion boards. The combined O4/O5 board will occur on 2 MAY 2022 while the O6 board occurs on 8 FEB 2022.
What is the easiest way to figure out where you are in the promotion board zones? The MC lineal list Excel spreadsheet that spells out the zones is posted on the MC Sharepoint. Or if you are MC or DC you can use your date of rank and look at page 5 of the Promo Prep because we are DOPMA exempt. NC and MSC need to use the zone NAVADMIN or their Corps’ lineal list spreadsheet.
Finally, the continuation policy that governs whether you can stay on Active Duty if you are not promoted is in this NAVADMIN. There were no changes for MC or DC from last year’s policy, but the Community Managers said this when I asked them if there were any other changes:
“NC added 1920 (Maternal/Infant) to 2xFOS LT Continuation. MSC made several changes to eligible specialty list for 2xFOS LTs:
-All MSC clinical specialties with a 1xFOS LT are included in the FY23 plan. Last year, the only clinical specialties were Physician Assistant, Clinical Psych, Social Work, and Podiatry.
-No HCAs are included in the FY23 plan. Last year, a couple of HCA specialties (HFPPO and Operations Analysis) were eligible.
-All MSC science specialties (except Aviation and Operational Physiology) with a 1xFOS LT are included in the FY23 plan. Last year, some over-manned/healthy specialties were excluded (i.e. Aviation and Operational Physiology, Entomology, and Microbiology).”
Finance Friday Articles
- 10 Years with a One-Fund Portfolio
- 2022 economy and markets: 4 things to know
- Coaching Options for Doctors: Career, Life, Burnout, and More
- Different Ways to Mix and Match Vanguard Funds in Your Portfolio
- Do Government Bond Yields Still Matter as an Economic Signal?
- End-of-Year Financial Checklist for High Earners
- My Favorite Investment Writing of 2021
- Risk & Return Expectations For Crypto
- Short-Term vs. Long-Term Capital Gains
- The Market is Not So Efficient Lately
- This Bull Market Hasn’t Always Been Easy
- TRICARE and Retirement: Steps to Help You Get Ready
- What Are I Bonds?
- You Probably Need to Rebalance
Here are 2 PDFs from Vanguard you might find interesting. One discusses the role of bonds in a low-yield environment and the other tax loss harvesting:
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 