The Corpsman.com Staff

— A NAVADMIN released Sept. 29 emphasized the Navy’s exceptional progress in attaining
a culture of fitness and announces several policy revisions to strengthen the Navy Physical Readiness Program(PRP).

“Navy Physical Fitness Assessment (PFA) failures have decreased more than 50 percent over the past four years. We’re really seeing a change in culture and change in lifestyle. Better fitness ultimately leads to better quality of life, better performance and better readiness,” said Rear Adm. Daniel P. Holloway, director, Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education, N13.

In recent years, the Navy has made significant strides in helping sailors achieve a culture of fitness. The addition of elliptical and stationary bike options for the cardio portion of the PFA was welcomed by many sailors. A General Military Training (GMT) program on NKO in 2008 provides sailors greater insight for physical training and preparing for the PFA. Most recently, an official PT uniform was adopted around the fleet.

“Since 2005, the Navy has made significant strides to support and encourage physical fitness,” said Holloway, citing the addition of new testing options, which include the elliptical and stationary bike. “The majority of Navy personnel performs the PFA semi-annually and can easily meet or exceed the minimum physical fitness standards. I challenge each of you to continue the excellent progress we’ve made to improve Navy’s overall physical fitness for the improved health and readiness of the force.”

The new NAVADMIN builds on the Navy’s culture of fitness and supports the rigors of shipboard life, global missions and individual augmentees, according to Holloway. The changes announced in NAVADMIN 277/08 include: Effective Oct. 1, 2008, unless the most recent PFA was passed; sailors who have failed two PFAs in the past three years shall not be assigned to overseas,
pre-commissioning, instructor duty, special programs billets, or Global War on Terror (GWOT)Support Assignments (GSA). Special programs billets include recruit division Commander, recruiting duty, joint duty and Washington D.C. staff.

Additionally, individuals who have not passed the current PFA and have failed three times in four years, will not be allowed a short term extension for the purpose of passing the PFA.

Software upgrades to the Physical Readiness Information Management System (PRIMS) will allow commands to enter all waivers, including current progress and readiness waivers. Commands are required to enter all PFA waivers into PRIMS. Current waivers must be entered no later than Dec. 15, 2008. This upgrade will allow the Navy to track the progress of sailors who need administrative separation processing due to multiple PFA failures. Effective Oct. 1, 2009 the Navy will discontinue waivers for progress. The present requirement for processing for administrative separations (ADSEP) for three PFA failures within a four-year period remains.

For more information read NAVADMIN 277/08, posted on the NPC Web site at www.npc.navy.mil.

Download the info: Here:

**More Navy Doc Goodness from the FORCM!!
Landlord Foreclosure info

**CPO Re-balancing for newly minted CPO’s (I.e your moving!) Welcome to the CPO CRAZYTRAIN!

**IA info (Individual Augmentation) Update

**SRB, NEC Manning, and other goodness..

We will be discussing all of this, tomorrow night (Wednesday 03 Sept 2008) on our Attack of Da-Chief Netcast.  You can listen on Corpsman.com Live or directly on Talkshoe and get involved with the broadcast @ Talkshoe !

Enough Babbling, here is the FORCM info..

“From the Desk of the BUMED FORCE MASTER CHIEF”

and Director of the Hospital Corps

2 September 2008

1. LANDLORD FORECLOSURES

Please review the attached info sheet Landlord Foreclosures. This should provide some relief for Sailors who are in a situation where their landlord forecloses, and the Sailor and or their family is forced to move.

2. COMNAVSURFOR ANNUAL CPO RE-BALANCING
Please review the attached GENADMIN on COMNAVSURFOR CPO Re-Balancing due to selection results. This message provides guidelines for re-balancing excess CPO’s resulting from their recent CPO advancement selection.

3. FEDERAL VOTING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (FVAP)

Are you registered to vote? Now’s the time to register and request your absentee ballot for the November 4, 2008 General Election!

Fill out the Voter Registration and Absentee Ballot Request Form at www.fvap.gov to register and request a ballot from your state. You can also use our new automated tool to guide you through completion of the Form, by following the link on our homepage.

Ask your Unit Voting Assistance Officer for help or a cardstock version of the Form.

Be smart, do your part, vote!

4. NAVY RESERVE COMPONENT INDIVIDUAL AUGMENTATION (IA) MOBILZATION

Please review the attached NAVADMIN 235/08 as it provides Business Rules for Navy Reserve Component IA Mobilizations.

5. NAVY FAMILY OMBUDSMAN APPRECIATION DAY

14 September is set aside to recognize the contribution of our Family Ombudsmen. These dedicated volunteers work tirelessly and give of their time to improve the readiness and lives of our Sailors and their families. For more information please review the attached NAVADMIN 217/08.

6. SELECTIVE REENLISTMENT BONUS (SRB)

Please review the attached NAVADMIN 240/08 as it announces the revised SRB Award Levels for Active and Reserve Component Full Time Support (FTS).

7. NEC MANNING (NECMAN) DOCUMENT

Understanding the NECMAN can be a challenge: Please review the attached NECMAN for August 2008. Enlisted Programmed Authorization (EPA) Total (Green): 2008 EPA numbers (updated twice a year) (BILLETS) Individual Account (IA) EPA Total (White): EPA personnel we planned for in the training pipeline.

Adjusted (Blue) is the difference between the EPA total and IA EPA.

INV TOTAL: (Green) monthly reported from the Digital Dashboard, the number of personnel actually in inventory (BODIES) I/A Account (White) number also reported monthly from the Digital Dashboard listing personnel in I/A account which includes TPPH (Transient, Patient, Prisoner, Holdee (TPPH), Student, and Limited Duty Pipelines Adjusted INV (Blue) is the difference between the Inv Total and I/A account Total Inv/EPA is the percentage we utilize to determine our manning for each NEC.

8. FORCE MASTER CHIEF/CPO SELECTEE RUN

I would like to thank all the participants that supported the Annual BUMED Force Master Chief run. We had over 200 Navy Chief Petty Officers and Chief Selects participate this year. The pride and enthusiasm we take in wearing the Anchors was evident throughout the day. I am already looking forward to next year’s event.

Director of the Hospital Corps

POINTS OF CONTACT

HMCM(SCW) Jim Menke
Deputy Director of the Hospital Corps
(202) 762-3139

HMCM(SW/FMF) Doug Glascoe

Hospital Corps Planner/From the Desk

(202) 762-3147

NCCS(SW/AW) Marco Soave
Navy Medicine Force Retention Hospital Corps Planner
(202) 762-3173

HMCS(FMF) Matt Lubold

HM Monthly

(202) 762-1682

HMCS(SW/AW) Jose Esquillin
FORCM Executive Assistant
(202) 762-3137

Ms. Evelyn Burford

Scheduler Exec. Secretary/Ret. Ltrs/Travel Mgr.

(202) 762-3030

If this is what is going to happen, it is time to get our folks out of that god forsaken crap hole ASAP.  I don’t want any of our folks there if they cannot fire back or carry a weapon. From the AP, Read Below:

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s government is grateful to U.S.-allied Sunni fighters but won’t allow them to keep their weapons indefinitely, the prime minister said Saturday, hinting at a more intense crackdown on the Sunni groups.

In recent weeks, the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has gone after Sunni fighters despite their alliances with the Americans. Some leaders have been arrested, while scores of others have been disarmed and banned from manning checkpoints except alongside security forces.

Al-Maliki’s government has mixed feelings about Sunni tribes that rose up against al-Qaida in Iraq, starting in 2007, and joined the Americans in the fight against the terror network.

The groups, known as Awakening Councils, Sons of Iraq and Popular Committees, have helped rout al-Qaida in some parts of Iraq. But Shiite leaders fear the Sunnis’ switch of allegiance is just a tactic, and that they could one day turn their weapons against the Shiite majority.

The U.S., which put many of the Sunni fighters on its payroll, has urged al-Maliki to incorporate them into his security forces, but the government has been slow to do so.

In a speech to Shiite tribal leaders in Baghdad on Saturday, al-Maliki mixed praise for the Sunni fighters with a warning. He said armed groups, alongside security forces, were tolerated for a limited period because their weapons were “aimed at the chests of the terrorists.”

“So they (the Sunni fighters) deserve our gratitude and the inclusion (into the security forces) because we adhere to a policy that there are no arms but the arms of the government,” he said.

In other developments Saturday, a suicide bomber struck a car bazaar in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, killing at least five people and wounding at least seven others, according to the U.S. military and Iraqi police.

Among those killed was a senior member of a U.S.-allied Sunni group from nearby Diyala province, said Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir, a senior police official in Kirkuk. The bomber also was from Diyala, which has been an insurgent stronghold and is the site of ongoing U.S.-Iraqi military operations, Qadir said.

In the capital, gunmen killed an adviser to Iraqi Culture Minister Mahir al-Hadithi in a roadside ambush. A bodyguard was wounded in the attack along a main thoroughfare in eastern Baghdad, police and hospital officials said.

Two cars were involved in the killing of the adviser, Kamil Shiya, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media. One vehicle blocked Shiya’s car and gunmen opened fire from the second vehicle.

Shiya’s death was confirmed by officials at nearby Kindi Hospital.

Something has to be done now. Leave a comment below what do you think?

What do you think?? Leave a comment Below:

When sailors deploy with Marine units, they live in the same conditions, eat the same food and face the same dangers.

But when Marine units are extended in Iraq or Afghanistan, the sailors don’t always get the same bonus pay. That needs to change, the Corps’ top enlisted members say.

The Corps’ sergeants major community has recommended to Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway that the service investigate options for giving those sailors the same assignment incentive pay, or AIP.

“You’re talking about being fair,” said Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps Carlton Kent, the Corps’ senior enlisted adviser. “We always have to be fair in the Marine Corps.”

The recommendation came out of the Sergeants Major Symposium, an annual meeting of top enlisted Marines in which policy recommendations are debated. Six command master chiefs were allowed to participate in the symposium for the first time, following an invitation from Kent.

Command Master Chief Raphael Sanchez, the top enlisted sailor with I Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Corps Central Command, praised Kent for allowing command master chiefs to join the symposium, held from July 27 to Aug. 1.

Additionally, Sanchez said the issue of AIP is worth discussing.

“Even though it’s a [Defense Department] policy, the Navy implements it one way and the Marine Corps implements it another,” he said. “When you have sailors and Marines serving together … discrepancies kind of show up.”

Sanchez said the change would apply primarily to corpsmen, but also to religious program specialists and other sailors serving with Marines. About 8,000 sailors serve with the Corps, Sanchez said.

Sailors whose combat zone deployments are involuntarily extended beyond 12 months receive the same as Marines, $800 per month in AIP and an additional $200 in hardship duty pay, said Capt. Jerry Logan, acting director of the Navy’s Military Personnel Plans and Policy Division.

But the Navy has not sought to expand AIP to match the Corps’ policy of paying $250 per month to Marines extended beyond 210 days but less than 365 days, Logan said in a statement. “The Navy’s retention, recruiting and mission requirements differ from the Marine Corps, thus we use the Assignment Incentive Pay program differently,” he said.

The Navy offers AIP for various hard-to-fill billets via an auction-style Web site; sailors submit bids for pay they would accept in exchange for orders.

Sanchez said he is impressed with the Corps’ openness to discussing sailor issues. “I’ve been serving with the Marine Corps since 1993, and this is probably the most progressive that I have seen the Marine Corps be,” he said.

Leave a comment below!

“From the Desk of the BUMED FORCE MASTER CHIEF”

and Director of the Hospital Corps

18 August 2008

forcm_18_aug_2008_files

1. LANDLORD FORECLOSURES

Please review the attached info sheet landlord foreclosures. This should provide some relief for Sailors who are in a situation where their landlord forecloses, and the Sailor or Sailors family is forced to move.

2. MILITARY HANDBOOKS NEWSLETTER – AUGUST 2008

Please review the attached Military Handbooks Newsletter, it provides some valuable information for all military personnel and their families. 

3. NATIONAL POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY

The attached NAVADMIN 220/08 Highlights the Department of Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) public awareness program and solicits support for the 2008 National POW/MIA Recognition Day.

4. LEAVE POLICY CHANGES

The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness has released a memorandum which summarizes the changes to the Leave Policy. For more information please review the attached NAVADMIN 221/08.

5. NAVY FAMILY OMBUDSMAN APPRECIATION DAY

14 September is set aside to recognize the contribution of our Family Ombudsman’s. These dedicated volunteers work tirelessly and give of their time to improve the readiness and lives of our Sailors and their families. For more information please review the attached NAVADMIN 217/08.

6. FORCE MASTER CHIEF/CPO SELECTEE RUN

As we are well into this year’s Season of Pride, my office has begun preparations for the annual FORCM/CPO Selectee Monument Run to be held on 29 August 2008. All Command Induction Committee Chairpersons are encouraged to contact HMCM(SW/FMF) Doug Glascoe or HMCS(SW/AW) Jose Esquilin for further information and roster development. Their contact info is listed at the bottom of the page. For lodging information please contact HMCS Rafael Felipe at (301) 319-8704 or via e-mail at Rafeal.Felipe@med.navy.mil.

We are back up online with Version 3.0. CrazyCajun has been working on this upgrade for 2 months. Drop him a line and thank him!

You will find quite a bunch of new changes in this version.

If you have a story or you see news that we should put on our front page, please email me @ admin1@corpsman.com with a link etc. We always give credit to the email writer as well as the site supplying the news.

If you wish to write a article for our site or our newsletter, please email it to DeeDee @ editor@corpsman.com.

We have also Created a FLICKR account for Pictures of Doc’s doing their thing. What we don’t want are the “STOCK” Navy, Army, AF, Coast Guard pictures.

We want them from you, the folks doing the real job they do.

Vets you aren’t to be left out either. Do you have a function you want to promote?

Let us know. Do you have pictures from a reunion to put out? Let us know..

We ask though that all pictures you submit to us, you give your permission to display them on the front of our site in
our rotating picture area.

Please, if you find any bugs please drop us a line.

Please remember, the Forums are still here.. Just hit the forums button off the front page.

We will still be hosting our chats etc. in the E-Club chat area.

Thanks so much for your Brother, and Sisterhood. I have been out of the Navy “1″ year this month. I have gained a much bigger family through you all on Corpsman.com!

Thanks!

GOTCHA!! Well got quite a few of you. Yesterday I posted that I had received a message via courier that I had been re-activated to active duty. What most didn’t catch though was yesterdays date.

Last year I got folks thinking I had sold out to Google, made a huge fake press release and everything. I was getting congrats from several folks, even folks in the media because it had gotten out to Google news. (Too funny!).

Well this year, I wasn’t sure if I could top it, but I did.

8404 was frantically trying to find a way for me to get out of it, until he heard my podcast. He had forgotten that yesterday was “April 1st”.

It truly was a great prank, I thank all of you who helped the seed spread. Hell I even had phone calls from Corps School wondering what was going on! (Naval Hospital Corps School was my last command.).

So with that wondrous holiday over, Spring is here, plants are starting to sprout and it looks like old man winter is taking a much needed rest. He deserves it.

We are completing our categories.. I have suggested quite a few to Crazy, and he will be putting them in order tomorrow. We are also creating a “WTF” list, (Usually a FAQ, but since most of us are Vets.. we are calling it WTF?)

More tomorrow, we are almost there. I believe we are keeping the colors we have as we have only had 1 negative comment and the rest have been positive.

Drop us a email if you see any bugs..

admin1@corpsman.com We will hunt it down and squash it..

Gnight!

If you haven’t figured it out, Today is April 1st, I am not being recalled to Active Duty.  I got a few folks though.. Too funny…

We also produced a podcast / netcast today, you can listen to it on the talkshoe application on our site.  All of our podcasts are hosted there.

We are hosting a Chat tonight from 2100-2300 EST in our E-Club Chat area on the forums. I will also be live @ http://live.yahoo.com/Corpsman_com

Hope to see you there!