The FY21 O6 Promo Board Convening Order Emphasizes Operational Medicine and Readiness
What better way to spend a Valentine’s Day evening when your wife is out of town than this…
There are some new things in the FY21 O6 convening order. Grab both the FY20 and FY21 below and let’s take a look page by page:
FY-20 O6 Staff Corps Convening Order
FY-21 O6 Staff Corps Convening Order
The Method to My Valentine’s Day Madness
I went through both convening orders and noted the pages in the FY21 order that represent a substantial difference from last year’s order. I focused only on impact on the medical community (MC, NC, MSC, DC). In other words, if something was different for the JAG Corps or Supply Corps, I didn’t highlight it. Any pages not highlighted are functionally the same.
Page 2 of FY21
- The promotion opportunities changed:
- Medical Corps went from 81% to 91%
- Dental Corps from 89% to 90%
- Medical Service Corps from 60% down to 50% (bummer)
- Nurse Corps stayed the same at 50%
Page 8 of FY21
This is where the meat starts, the section entitled “Medical Community Considerations”:
The bold portions highlighted below are new from FY20:
Knowledge and proven performance/experience in a variety of settings including operational medicine, joint medical operations, and current garrison health care and fleet/FMF support is necessary.
Additionally, Navy Medicine greatly values joint experience and formal education, including JPME, with knowledge and experience in a variety of settings including joint medical operations and current garrison health care delivery and operational support initiatives.
Do you see a pattern here?
KEY MESSAGE – Navy Medicine is increasing its focus on fleet/FMF/operational support. Everyone needs to be operationally relevant to promote to O6.
Pages 9-10 of FY21
The following sentence is brand new:
Excellence in operational support settings should receive special consideration as Navy Medicine shifts greater focus to readiness and operational support.
Which brings me back to…
KEY MESSAGE – Navy Medicine is increasing its focus on fleet/FMF/operational support. Everyone needs to be operationally relevant to promote to O6.
Here is some more brand new stuff in bold:
Best and fully qualified officers for the rank of captain will be those with proven leadership experience who have demonstrated experience and expertise across the spectrum of military medicine, especially inclusive of operational experience and operational platforms. With Navy Medicine’s renewed focus on operational support and readiness, our future leaders must have shown leadership excellence in those activities.
Oh boy! I feel like I’m beating a particular drum…
KEY MESSAGE – Navy Medicine is increasing its focus on fleet/FMF/operational support. Everyone needs to be operationally relevant to promote to O6.
Read that again, people:
With Navy Medicine’s renewed focus on operational support and readiness, our future leaders must have shown leadership excellence in those activities.
MUST have shown. That’s a strong statement!
The Bottom Line
KEY MESSAGE – Navy Medicine is increasing its focus on fleet/FMF/operational support. Everyone needs to be operationally relevant to promote to O6.
TSP Changes and Finance Friday Articles
According to the January/February 2020 Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Message from the Executive Director, a few important changes are coming:
- 5-year Lifecycle (L) Funds—Later this year, we’ll offer more investment options when we introduce new L Funds in 5-year increments. You’ll be able to pick an L Fund with a target date that more closely matches your intended retirement date. Each L Fund will continue to vary your investments automatically to adjust your exposure to risk as you get closer to retirement and give you the potential for long-term growth. Learn more about our Lifecycle Funds and individual fund options.
- Automatic enrollment percentage increase—Beginning October 1, 2020, new participants will be automatically enrolled in the TSP at 5% of their pay. This change also includes Blended Retirement System (BRS) participants automatically re-enrolled in the TSP on or after January 1, 2021. The increase will allow new participants to get the full matching contributions from their agency or service. If you are currently an active participant and are not contributing at least 5%, then you’re missing out on free money. Increase your percentage today by logging into your agency’s or service’s electronic payroll system and upping your contribution amount.
Here are my favorites this week:
10 things I wish I’d been told in my 20s
Investing Basics for Physicians With Little Time or Experience, Part II
Here are the rest:
A Real Estate Goal Every Investor With Kids Should Consider
Asset Protection for Physicians Through the Life Stages
Banks, Bitcoin, bond funds: Where is your money safe in an era of cyberattacks?
FY 2021 DOD Budget Request Seeks 3% Pay Raise for Service Members
How Real Estate Investments Go Bad
Make Spending Money Music to Your Ears: Spending Equalizer
Not So Common Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Programs
Start of tax season 2020 is prime time for scammers
The 4% Rule, HSAs, and Healthcare Costs in Retirement
Troops would see another big pay raise under White House budget plan for 2021
Three Years Retired from Surgery and all’s Well with my FIRE Life
What You Can Learn From Your 1099 Forms
Throwback Thursday Classic Post – Why I Started This Blog and How You Can Help Me
After the recent O6 results came out, I received an e-mail that went something like this:
“You don’t know me, but I was selected for promotion. Without your website and promotion board prep, I never would have promoted. I just wanted to thank you for all the work you put into it.”
I received a few more messages that were similar in nature. All I can say is, “You’re welcome. Now it is your turn to help me.”
The Origin of the Blog
In 2014, I became one of the Medical Corps Detailers. It didn’t take long for me to realize a few things:
- There was a lot of good career information out there, but it was on 20+ different websites.
- If I didn’t do something, I was going to be responding to the same questions and typing the same e-mails over and over again.
- There had to be an easier way.
There was. I created this blog. Then I created the promotion prep document. Then the fitrep prep document.
191,374 web hits later (that would be 484,260 now), the rest is history.
The Next Phase of the Blog
As I assume more senior leadership roles in the Navy, I find that my time is the bottleneck in the continuous process of trying to improve this blog. I’ve just got too much going on.
And this is where you come in…I need your help.
I Need People Who Want to Get Involved in the Blog
I periodically get guest posts, but they are few and far between. If you are interested in writing for the blog, send me ideas for guest posts. We will likely publish them.
Did something good happen to you in the Navy? That’s a guest post.
Did something bad happen to you in the Navy? What did you learn from it? That’s a guest post.
Did you figure something out that would benefit others? That’s a guest post.
Get the point yet?
Do you have ideas for where we should take the blog or ways we could improve it? Let me know.
Improving the Navy by Helping Each Other Out
This is really why this blog and all its resources were created. To help each other out and make our lives just a little bit easier. I don’t make any money off of it. In fact, it costs me $99/year to run.
If you’d like to get involved and try to help out your Naval colleagues, making their lives easier and improving their personal and professional lives, contact me and let me know. Maybe we can make this blog better together.
MHS Director of Governance in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs – O6
Here is the advertisement for an amazing opportunity for one of our senior O-6s. A “best fit” would have some Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD)/Pentagon experience, big picture Joint understanding of Air Force, Army, Navy health care current and future priorities, and understanding of the Defense Health Agencies scope of Military Treatment Facility/Markets authority, direction and control. The person needs to be able to accurately interpret and document discussions across the Services’ SGs, DHA Director, Reform/Transition initiatives (OSD Congressionally Directed) and Health Affairs organization (Deputy Assistant Secretaries’ of Defense and Assistant Secretary of Defense four star position). Understanding of big picture and OSD organization is necessary.
Applications should be submitted to CDR Melissa Austin (contact is in the global) by 21 FEB 2020.
New Process to Add Degrees to Your Record
Thanks to the Detailers for sending me this update. Below and in the just updated Promo Prep are the new procedures for adding degrees to your record:
To have your formal education updated, the official transcripts must come directly from the school to the office below. They can be delivered electronically as long as the school uses a secure delivery system such as eScript/Parchment to JST@DODED.MIL or they can be mailed to:
NETC N644
JST Ops Center
6490 Saufley Field Road
Pensacola, Florida 32509
Before sending the transcripts, you must contact the Joint Services Transcript Operations Center (JST OPS) at JST@DODED.MIL, advising them that you are having an official transcript mailed to them directly from the academic institution for the purpose of adding it to your Joint Services Transcript (JST). You are to provide your name, last four of your SSN, and either your e-mail or phone number so that they can reach you should there be any questions.
To see if the degrees have been added, please check the ACADEMIC page or the INQUIRIES tab on the JST website before contacting the office to see if the degree has been added. Please wait a minimum of 10 business days before contacting the JST office to see if they have received the degree.
The JST website can be found at https://jst.doded.mil/jst/.
1st Ever (We Think) Medical Corps Symposium – 3 APR 2020 – NMC Portsmouth
The first ever (we think) Medical Corps Symposium will be held at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth on April 3, 2020. There is no central funding to facilitate attendance, but it will still be awesome as the SG, Corps Chief, Reserve Corps Chief, and RDML Via will all be in attendance and speaking. All of the details that we have can be found here:
https://einvitations.afit.edu/inv/anim.cfm?i=495270&k=0668470B7C57
Basic Medical Department Officer Course Offline Until Spring 2020
The Basic Medical Department Officer Course (BMDOC) is offline until spring 2020. You normally do it because it is a prerequisite for the Advanced Medical Department Officer Course (AMDOC), which was recently renamed the Advanced Readiness Officer Course (A-ROC). Until it is is back up, you won’t need to do it to attend A-ROC, the artist formerly known as AMDOC. Here’s the full memo:
NMPDC Notification of BMDOC Update Jan 2020
The instructions to sign up for A-ROC are in this document.
SECDEF’s Guidance on Ethical Conduct and Political Activities
Tis the season of politics, so the SECDEF put the following 2 pager out regarding ethical conduct and political activities:
Chem-Bio-Radiologic Courses at Aberdeen
Here is a flyer with some Chemical-Bio-Radiological courses available on Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland:
There is also a website, available here:
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 