Da-Chief
05-21-2007, 20:00
From NavyTimes: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/05/navy_timeoff_070521w/
I know quite a few people who would be or would have been interested in this!
Chief
Navy to permit 2 year break without penalty
By Mark D. Faram - Staff writer
Posted : Monday May 21, 2007 17:38:15 EDT
Looking to take a couple of years off? Want to complete a college degree, spend some time raising a child or simply test the waters in the civilian world before deciding on making the Navy a career?
If so, the Navy may well have an offer tailor-made for you.
Officials are planning a pilot program that could give sailors up to two years away from the Navy without hurting their careers. If successful, the program could eventually go Navy-wide.
“We are actively working this very hard, and it’s very important to the Navy’s future,” Vice Adm. John C. Harvey, the Navy’s chief of personnel, told Navy Times on May 8 in Arlington, Va.
Harvey’s brainchild for both men and women, officer and enlisted, would allow qualified sailors to leave the Navy to take care of newborn or newly adopted children, care for a sick family member, or even finish a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
“This is [about] off-ramps and on-ramps and how flexible can we make it,” Harvey said. “It’s not just about women and child care, either. The program needs to be flexible enough to deal with as broad a base of life situations as possible, because that career flexibility is going to be very important to our ability to attract and keep these folks in.”
To that end, the service plans to give sailors the option to leave the Navy temporarily if their military careers and lives are at odds.
Those taking the out would be allowed to return, penalty free, within two years if they were still fully qualified for military service. While they’re gone, they would not receive pay or military benefits.
And although sailors will leave with a return guarantee, there will be no requirement for them to come back, should they decide they don’t want to.
Navy officials would guarantee that enlisted sailors would retain their rank and time in grade, as well as advancement eligibility, for up to two years. Sailors who go beyond that deadline will then have to contend with current recruiting policy to return to the ranks. Under current rules, a sailor’s time-in-grade clock stops ticking 90 days after discharge.
It’s unclear exactly how the deal would affect officers. It could be as simple as having their year groups adjusted, sources said, to keep them competitive for assignments and promotion once they return.
Officials said the Navy is still “working the idea” and that no official timetable for adoption has been set. Still, the plan is on the fast track, and a decision on adoption could come in the next six months, sources said.
If approved and implemented, the program would be unprecedented in the Defense Department.
For more on this story, check out the May 28 issue of Navy Times.
I know quite a few people who would be or would have been interested in this!
Chief
Navy to permit 2 year break without penalty
By Mark D. Faram - Staff writer
Posted : Monday May 21, 2007 17:38:15 EDT
Looking to take a couple of years off? Want to complete a college degree, spend some time raising a child or simply test the waters in the civilian world before deciding on making the Navy a career?
If so, the Navy may well have an offer tailor-made for you.
Officials are planning a pilot program that could give sailors up to two years away from the Navy without hurting their careers. If successful, the program could eventually go Navy-wide.
“We are actively working this very hard, and it’s very important to the Navy’s future,” Vice Adm. John C. Harvey, the Navy’s chief of personnel, told Navy Times on May 8 in Arlington, Va.
Harvey’s brainchild for both men and women, officer and enlisted, would allow qualified sailors to leave the Navy to take care of newborn or newly adopted children, care for a sick family member, or even finish a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
“This is [about] off-ramps and on-ramps and how flexible can we make it,” Harvey said. “It’s not just about women and child care, either. The program needs to be flexible enough to deal with as broad a base of life situations as possible, because that career flexibility is going to be very important to our ability to attract and keep these folks in.”
To that end, the service plans to give sailors the option to leave the Navy temporarily if their military careers and lives are at odds.
Those taking the out would be allowed to return, penalty free, within two years if they were still fully qualified for military service. While they’re gone, they would not receive pay or military benefits.
And although sailors will leave with a return guarantee, there will be no requirement for them to come back, should they decide they don’t want to.
Navy officials would guarantee that enlisted sailors would retain their rank and time in grade, as well as advancement eligibility, for up to two years. Sailors who go beyond that deadline will then have to contend with current recruiting policy to return to the ranks. Under current rules, a sailor’s time-in-grade clock stops ticking 90 days after discharge.
It’s unclear exactly how the deal would affect officers. It could be as simple as having their year groups adjusted, sources said, to keep them competitive for assignments and promotion once they return.
Officials said the Navy is still “working the idea” and that no official timetable for adoption has been set. Still, the plan is on the fast track, and a decision on adoption could come in the next six months, sources said.
If approved and implemented, the program would be unprecedented in the Defense Department.
For more on this story, check out the May 28 issue of Navy Times.