Top enlisted Marines push corpsmen equal pay for deployments

Snagged this from Navytimes I am glad the Top Marine Enlisted Leaders are trying to look out for, us, IMHO the Navy “OFFICER” Leaders forget about those of us who serve with the Marine Corps.

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.

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PT INSTRUCTIONS, OPNAVINST 6110.1H

So you always have questions about the PFT program. Why not educmate yourself so you know what is what instead of going by word of mouth? PT is serious business during this war climate. I myself have fallen off the wagon since I got out 1 year ago today. Why do I write this? Because I am getting back on the wagon and starting PT today.

The Navy has always (In the past) had a culture of being portrayed as “FAT & LAZY”, unless you were a DOC who has served with the FMF. Those days are over especially since the IA (Individual Augmantee) program has kicked in. We now have quad zero’s with boots on the ground in IRAQ as well as Afghanistan and Africa.

Our culture itself has made us fat and lazy with the ease in which we can do things. When I was young as my son is @ 6 years old, I would have been outside all day long playing Cops and Robbers, or Cowboys and Indians (Now Native Americans of which I am one). I would come in after the day hot, dirty and sweaty and complain that I needed a bath.
Not anymore since the advent of Cable, Fast Food, and Video Games, Kids are now couch potatoes. Why? Look who is sitting next to them. Who are they emulating?

Well I myself even though I am retired am going to read this instruction, and am going to incorporate PT (Good for you, Good for me) in my daily life as are my kids. I even have convinced my kids principal to start a Daily PT Program each day with 30 mins of exercise next year. Yours truly will be leading it. Who knew?

Anyways, You can download OPNAVINST 6110.1H and the change to it OPNAVINST 6110.1H/CH1. I would advise highly reading it regardless if you are going to PT more as you are a DOC, and we always get questions about this program from shipmates in other rates, and I would bet you will see it again on your advancement tests.

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