COLA Pay Raise

Wow.. at least it’s something!! Last year we got nothing.

The cost-of-living adjustment for retirees next year could test the idea if something really is better than nothing.

After getting no COLA this year in military and federal civilian retired pay, veterans disability compensation and Social Security because of the weak national economy, congressional economists are estimating that the pay adjustment this Dec. 1, which will take effect in January paychecks, will be just 0.1 percent.

Navy Times hosts the article, take a look at it here: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/03/military_retiree_cola_031610w/

Let us know what you think below..

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I want to thank IDCWIFE for doing this for us.

It warms the cockles of my heart.  (What are cockles anyways?)

Short and sweet..

This netcast was only around 29 minutes long, but well worth it.

It’s the first time using USTREAM, and I can tell you it is a huge upgrade for us.  I hope you enjoy it as we work the kinks out.

You can view the Netcast here:

And of course you can download the audio below or on ITUNES.

Leave a comment if you have any, and remember to look up Corpsman.com on Facebook as well, just hit the groups button and look up “Corpsman.com”.

Thanks!

Da-Chief, Owner Corpsman.com

About to Begin Broadcasting AOTC #91 !!

Remember we have moved to USTREAM

http://ow.ly/1kfKg

or

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/Corpsman-com-Attack-of-Da-Chief-64

Come see us! 1300 CST!

Corpsman.com Mugs by DeeDee!

Wow, been 3 weekss since last AOTC!!

Just so you understand my thought process on the show, yes I would like to do it on a regular day and time, but life as a college student and family man, it’s like juggling cats!

I have blocked some time for this Sunday and wanted to give you all a heads up. I hope some of the regulars show up!

Hope to see you and remember, we are using USTREAM this time. I will post the link on our Facebook group (lookup “Corpsman Com” and join us!”) and on the front page.

I can’t do it right now as my youngest son “S” (7 years old) is getting his braces put on right now. (Thank god for the IPhone!)

More posts later today as well!

D/C

Female CAPT Bligh! ARRGHH!!

I know this isn’t Meidcal related, but I am sure Doc’s out there worked for this “WITCH”.

This is a problem with the “It’s how you know” mentality in the Services.  I have worked for bosses like this before, I am sure we all have, all the while watching the “GREAT” leaders being kept down out of the club.

Take a read from this “Time” article (It will also be in NavyTimes this week as well).   I just could not believe that this woman was this way all through the ranks but was promoted everytime.  I thought this was why we have FITREPS.  All her CO’s who wrote them prior for her should be fired as well for lack of leadership.

Take a read..

Women are so common in the upper ranks of the U.S. military these days that it’s no longer news when they break through another barrier. Unfortunately, the latest benchmark isn’t one to brag about: being booted as captain of a billion-dollar warship for “cruelty and maltreatment” of her 400-member crew. According to the Navy inspector general’s report that triggered her removal — and the accounts of officers who served with her — Captain Holly Graf was the closest thing the U.S. Navy had to a female Captain Bligh.

The Chaplain further weighed in on this as well in a followup article.

Navy Cmdr. Maurice “Mo” Kaprow was stunned to watch then-Cmdr. Holly Graf in action. He saw her for the first time after arriving aboard her ship, the destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill, in Italy just before the Iraq war began in 2003. A Jewish rabbi and a Navy chaplain, he’d been sent to the Churchill on temporary assignment as the vessel readied for war. Usually pulling out of port is a methodical and precise process. “But I never in my life saw such chaos as there was on that bridge — Holly Graf began yelling and screaming rudder orders, engine orders, insulting people,” Kaprow recalled Friday. “I’d never seen anything like this.”

The first article can be found here: The Rise and Fall of a Female Captain Bligh

Read more: The Rise and Fall of a Female Captain Bligh

The second article here: Complaints About Female ‘Captain Bligh’ Began Early

I think the Navy leadership has to look themselves in the mirror on this one.

Gumby Damnit!

Well it will have to be rescheduled, I have 2 sick kids home today from school so won’t be able to do the show tonight.

Might do it tomorrow, depending on how they all feel.

Semper Gumby, Always flexible.

D/C

Submarine in flight.

But we are going to give “USTREAM” a whirl tonight.  Stay tuned on the main site corpsman.com to get the address as we get closer to the broadcast.

Hope to see you!

D/C

Corpsman.com

Thats right, it’s time to try out the Monster Machine.

I have a new computer, this will be the first time broadcasting with it on Thursday night @ 2130 EST.  Should be fun times!

So if you want to watch the comedy of errors etc, join me on Thursday night @ http://www.stickam.com/da_chief 

We have no agenda other then trying to get everything working right.  There will be light hearted discussion, music etc.

Hope to see you!
Da-Chief

Submarine in flight.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Defense Department informed Congress on Friday that the Navy will soon allow women to serve aboard submarines.

In a move led by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Chief Naval Officer Adm. Gary Roughead, women for the first time could begin training to join submarine crews as early as next year.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates formally notified Congress of the policy change in a letter on Friday, according to Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.

Congress has 30 days of session to respond, a defense department official said on Tuesday, which puts the implementation start date at around mid to late-April.

“There are not approved plans,” for integration just yet, the official said, but said the process could resemble the Navy’s decision to allow women aboard surface ships in 1993.

Although there are nuclear-trained female sailors serving on aircraft carriers, the official said that “it would make the most sense”  the first qualified women submariners, roughly a dozen or more, will come up through nuclear and submarine training.

Women have been aboard submarines, but only in short term runs, such as technical representatives sent to fix items or as VIPs, the official said.

Gradually, they first would join the fleet’s larger subs that could accommodate separate sleeping arrangements.

Mabus first announced the Navy’s intent in September, saying he had worked “aggressively” on making the change since his arrival in March 2009. Last year, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress he endorsed the change.

Mabus’s spokeswoman Capt Beci Brenton on Tuesday said, “The secretary believes assigning women to submarines is a great idea and the right thing to do.”

Read below from Stars and Stripes, HM2 Harris is a hero in my book–D/C

HM2 Harris receiving awards.

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION FUTENMA, Okinawa — Two Bronze Stars and a Navy Commendation Medal, all for valor, are commonplace at awards ceremonies these days. But when the three medals are pinned on the chest of a single person — who also is meritoriously promoted — people notice.

Petty Officer 3rd Class William J. Harris, a Navy corpsman, stood at attention as he was lauded for his heroics in Afghanistan during a brief ceremony Monday at Futenma.

“HM3 Harris proves you can not only do the right thing once, but you can do it continually,” Maj. Gen. Raymond C. Fox, commanding general of 1st Marine Air Wing, told the more than 200 Marines and sailors in attendance.

The three medals were for separate actions against hostile forces while Harris was assigned to Embedded Training Team 5-4 to assist the Afghanistan National Army.

According to his first Bronze Star citation, Harris participated in more than 60 combat operations and was involved in more than 50 engagements with enemy forces.

On Jan. 17, 2009, Harris provided heavy machine gun fire to ward off insurgents who were closing in on a downed CH-47 in the Korengal Valley.

“[The insurgents] rushed the aircraft to see if there were any survivors,” the 24-year-old Monroe, Mich., native recalled Monday.

He “jumped up on the guns” and kept the enemy at bay, allowing helicopters to evacuate the casualties.

The Navy Commendation Medal was pinned on for moving an Afghan National Army element “to a safe and covered location allowing them more effective engagements with numerous enemy force positions” during a firefight July 1, according to the citation. During the same battle, he treated a wounded Afghan soldier and brought him to safety.

But Harris wasn’t done.

On July 30 he “risked his own life to move 400 meters under heavy fire to secure and treat a wounded U.S. Army soldier,” his second Bronze Star citation reads.

He then organized a litter team and led it more than 500 meters, again under heavy fire, to a secure location where he provided first aid until the soldier could be evacuated.

“Harris was an astonishing warrior and sailor throughout his entire ETT deployment to Afghanistan,” Capt. John Farris, Harris’ officer in charge in Afghanistan, said in an e-mail from Hawaii. “The bottom line is that what led Harris to his receiving three awards at once was his leadership and courage during the most ferocious of times.”

After the ceremony, the newly frocked Petty Officer 2nd Class Harris reflected on his time in Afghanistan.

“I loved it out there,” Harris said. “I loved working alongside the ANA. I ate, worked and slept alongside them. If there was another billet opening up, you can sign me up.”