SecDef calls for Congress to mandate that Guard, Reserves have lead in DoD ops in the homeland

This is from the Navytimes.  Things are changing my friends. How long will TAR/FTS Sailors be relevant? Interesting read…

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates took a giant step Monday toward more tightly blending the active-duty military and reserve components into an “integrated total force,” calling for wide-ranging personnel policy changes, codifying the reserves’ homeland defense role and adequately funding oft-overlooked reserve equipment requirements.

In a Monday memo sent to every senior uniformed and civilian Pentagon leader and copied to three other cabinet secretaries, Gates directed the development of a new Total Force Integration Policy that recognizes the “cultural divide that exists” between the active and reserve components. “All vestiges of the cultural prejudice” that remain in law “should be removed” by Congress, he wrote.

Gates also called upon Congress to “mandate that the National Guard and Reserves have the lead role in and form the backbone of DoD operations in the homeland.”

Congress, the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves it chartered and the Pentagon, Gates wrote in his 41-page memo, “all recognize that the National Guard and the Reserves are integral to the Total Force and have assumed a greater operational role in today’s force.”

The commission distributed the memo Monday evening in advance of the Pentagon’s planned Tuesday release.

Gates endorsed 82 of the 95 recommendations issued by the commission in its final report in January — some of the 82, he noted, have already been completed or are currently being implemented.

Twenty of the 82 recommendations will require the support of Congress; one asks the president to direct all federal agencies to issue guidance emphasizing the importance of reserve service and to prescribe sanctions for civilian supervisors who fail to comply with guidelines regarding treatment of reservists.

The directives and recommendations represent a near-sweeping endorsement of three years of work by the commission, which said that significant reforms were needed to support the reserve component’s relatively new operational status, including management of the reserves as part of an integrated force.

Gates agreed, saying the Pentagon needs to blend the promotion and management of active and reserve enlisted troops and, separately, officers, into integrated manpower systems. Promotions, Gates said, should be based on the achievement of competencies, not just years of service; the services should tailor “the timing of and opportunity for promotion” by career field, “depending on service requirements.” The moves would require legislation.

Two recommendations would be annual budget action items. Gates ordered that designated “lead offices” for the remaining recommendations submit their implementation plans to the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness within 25 days.

“The commission members and I are extremely pleased with today’s announcement,” said commission chairman Arnold Punaro in a statement that accompanied its release of the memo. Gates’ decisions, he said, “were not easy to reach and will not be easy to implement” … but are “changes that are essential if the Guard and Reserves are to remain fully capable of meeting current and future threats.”

Several of the commission’s recommendations have already been adopted, including the elevation of the National Guard to a joint activity of the Defense Department and elevating the National Guard Bureau’s chief to 4-star rank.

Gates also:

• Directed the formation of a senior study group to review the current duty status structure, including the commission’s recommendation to reduce the number of duty statuses from 29 to two: on active duty, and off;

• Directed the services to conduct a “baseline review” of reserve component equipment requirements, “some of which remain tied to Cold War force management and a strategic reserve”;

• Directed the Army and Marine Corps to restore their reserve components to the highest level of readiness “as soon as possible” but no later than 2015;

• Directed the bolstering of reserve component family support services programs, particularly for transition assistance during the mobilization and demobilization process;

• Said that senior leaders at service headquarters and large commands “must be held accountable for the readiness and performance” of reserve component forces “within their purview” and that the responsibilities “must be reflected in job descriptions and performance appraisals”;

• Asked Congress to amend the Goldwater-Nichols Act to require reserve officers to be designated as “joint qualified” and, at the end of a 10-year transition period, to make joint qualification “a criterion for promotion to flag and general officer rank”;

• Asked Congress to direct the Pentagon to simplify the Tricare claims and reimbursement process to eliminate current “disincentives that discourage providers from taking part” in the program;

• Asked Congress to create a single entity that would oversee the entire Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.

Happy Birthday USMC!!

Happy Birthday Marines!
From: Corpsman.com

GIBILL2008.org brought to you by our Friends @ IAVA.ORG !!

Folks, Just got info from “IAVA.org” about a new site they created to help get information out about the new GI BILL.  Here is the email.  Go to this site.. it is a real “EYE OPENER”!!
I will have my tuition paid in full + 1000.00 in Books, PLUS $10,710.00 Living Expense Paid to me!!
Now hopefully they will get this thing to work prior to 2009.  Anyways, it is coming!!  Read Below!!

Dear Darrell, We fought for a new GI Bill, and because of you, we won. Now it’s time to take the next step. This morning, I had the honor of addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) National Convention in Orlando, Florida. The VFW was one of our major allies in the fight for the new GI Bill, and we wouldn’t have succeeded without their support. As part of my remarks, I announced IAVA’s relaunch of www.GIBill2008.org. The website, which served as a critical hub of online activism during our fight for the new GI Bill, is now a resource center for members of the military to learn about their hard-earned education benefits. Starting this week, www.GIBill2008.org will provide America’s newest generation of veterans with the tools they need to access the new GI Bill. It includes an interactive benefits calculator based on your zip code, answers to Frequently Asked Questions, and the latest news and information about the new GI Bill as it goes into effect. IAVA is committed to helping eligible veterans access their new benefit, and we’ve begun community outreach with ads in newspapers across the country, urging veterans to visit www.GIBill2008.org. The original GI Bill made education affordable for millions of veterans during the 20th century. Thanks to your help in fighting for the new GI Bill, millions more will have the same opportunity in the 21st century. None of this would be possible without your continued support. Thank you. Sincerely, Paul Rieckhoff Iraq Veteran Executive Director Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

Please visit both sites. We are a member of the IAVA here at Corpsman.com. We would not have the new GI bill if not for them.

Support those who support you.

Thanks!
Da-Chief

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.

Leave a comment below!

Have you locked down your Network Connection?

There is a great article in the San Francisco Chronicle, about;

“WARDRIVING”

For those of you who don’t understand the term, picture folks cruising your neighberhoods looking for open wireless network connections so they can leech off of your connection.

This can slow down your system, but worse if they get in, and you do banking on your system either on your home computer or even online, they can get your data and access your accounts.

This is SCARY Stuff.  All they have to do is install to your HD a “KEYLOGGER” which records all your keystrokes on your system and then reports the info to them.

Read the entire article “HERE”

Or the Wikipedia article “HERE”

We are going to be starting a computer / Electronics Geek section up here to help you out.  I will educate you on programs that can help you lock down your system even if your not the “TECH GEEK” like Da-Chief is.

A article will be in this months newsletter as well as on our site.

First assingment though, read the article.

D/C

Important Military Service Links

Army
Official Web Site for United States Army
Army Medical Department — AMEDD
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Army Financial Management
U.S. Army Forces Command
U.S. Army Human Resources Command
U.S. Army Research Institute
U.S. Army Materiel Command
U.S. Army Military History Institute
U.S. Army Reserve
U.S. Army Space & Missile Defense/Strategic Command
U.S. Army Training & Doctrine Command
Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Air Force
Official Web Site for United States Air Force
Air Force Surgeon General
U.S. Air Force Crossroads
U.S. Air Force One Source
U.S. Air Force Personnel Center
U.S. Air Force Portal
U.S. Air Force Reserve

Coast Guard
Official Web Site for United States Coast Guard
Health & Safety Directorate (CG-11), Office of Health Services (CG-112)
Coast Guard Academy
Coast Guard Auxiliary Association
Coast Guard Foundation
Coast Guard Sea Veterans of America

Department of Defense
Defense Finance and Accounting Service
Defenselink - DoD News
Pentagon Channel

Navy
Official Web Site for United States Navy
Navy Medicine
Lifelines - Answers for Sailors, Marines and their Families
Naval Personnel Command
Navy Knowledge Online (NKO)
Navy League of the United States
Navy Region Southwest Bases
Navy Web Site Links
U.S. Naval Academy
U.S. Naval Institute
U.S. Navy Blue Angels
U.S. Navy Reserve
U.S. Navy Sports

Marine Corps
Official Web Site for United States Marine Corps
Headquarters Marine Corps
Marine Online
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar
Marine Corps Associations & Organizations
Marine Corps Aviation Association
Marine Corps Family Network
Marine Corps Free-For-All Links
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Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego
Marine Corps Systems Command
Marine Forces Reserve

Veterans
American Legion
American Veterans
Disabled American Veterans
Fleet Reserve Association
Military Officers Association of America
National Association for the Uniformed Services
Non-Commissioned Officers Association
Reserve Officers Association
Retired Enlisted Association
U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs
Veterans of Foreign Wars
Vietnam Veterans of America

Doc’s Love being Green.

Ok this will start more fights withen our Corpsman community. Those of “US” who have served with the Corps, know it is a highly demanding, both physically and mentally, job. It is a job you hate when serving but you have to be taken away kicking and screaming from. Most of us would rather have our toe nails ripped from our feet then serve in a hospital or clinic after serving with the Corps.

To this day I remember SGTMAJ Saunders talk to me when I was leaving as BN Med Chief from 1/14;

“Chief, your gonna hate it at Naval Hospital Great Lakes, your to high speed low drag for that place, it’s going to drive you nuts with it’s bureaucracy. “

He was right of course.

I could tell you the stories after serving after 9/11, the hours that we served etc.. 24 on 24 off (If you were lucky) etc.. To come to a place where the Officers, and some of the enlisted were just plain “FAT & LAZY” but they were supreme “Ass-Kissers”.   Boy they could whip off a meeting in a heartbeat to waste time.  This was not what I was used to and absolutely hated it.

I look back now and I did learn from this posting though.  I was lucky enough that I was able to leave NHGL and go to Naval Hospital Corps School as a instructor, Duty I loved and apecciated as we tried to impart our knowledge to our young students of what they were getting into as a Corpsman.  Most of the staff at NHCS were Green Vets.

Take a look at the article below.. And remember we are coming up to Memorial Day weekend, what it is about etc.. We have a list of Doc’s on the front page since 9/11 who have given their all to our country, everyone of them were “GREEN”.

Doc loves being ‘green’

KOREAN VILLAGE, Iraq —

By Cpl. Ryan Tomlinson, Regimental Combat Team 5
2008-05-05

When a Navy hospital corpsman becomes “green,” he is placed on the front lines with the trust of the Marine Corps infantryman. He runs through the trenches, engaging the enemy, all while putting his own life on the line providing medical care for the wounded.

After four tours in two separate conflicts, Chief Petty Officer Truman A. Gartman, chief petty officer of the Battalion Aid Station, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5, has been a part of that trust for 14 years and counting.

“What I love most about being with the Marines is the amount of trust they have for (corpsmen),” said Gartman. “From the lowest, a private first class, to the higher-ups, a lieutenant colonel, they trust you with their life.”

The 38-year-old, from San Angelo, Texas, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1987 and was sent to Sasapo, Japan, for his first duty station.

Gartman was in and out of minor trouble throughout the time he was in Japan, and this caught the attention of his command master chief.

“The command master chief was telling my officer in charge that, because of my attitude, I would be a perfect (infantryman) corpsman,” he said. “He gave me a choice between being separated and going to the green side.”

Gartman checked into 1st Marine Division out of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., from which he deployed to his first conflict, Operation Desert Shield/ Desert Storm. During the engagements, the young doc cared for wounded Marines as U.S. forces held the Kuwaiti border.

After five years with 1st Marine Division, he went back to caring for Navy sailors. In 1999, he checked into 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, stationed out of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejuene, N.C.

“It was a privilege to be back on the green side for good,” said Gartman. “I missed it a lot, and it was great to return to the family.”

He experienced everything from being a standard line corpsman to his favorite duty of them all, a Marine Scout Sniper platoon corpsman with 3rd Bn., 6th Marine Regiment.

After all of the experiences of being a corpsman with a variety of infantry units in several different combat situations, Gartman still came back for more.

“No matter how bad the times were, I always sat down and analyzed what I could have done better,” said Gartman. “I always want to be here to train those who succeed me; that way all the mistakes that I’ve made, they won’t make.”

Now deployed with 2nd LAR on his third tour in Iraq, he trains all of his sailors in everything he knows about medicine and his hobby, construction. According to his sailors, he is used as a giant book of knowledge.

“He’s a good leader,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Titus J. Willis, 25, a hospital corpsman with the BAS, 2nd LAR, from New Orleans. “When it comes to a scale of one through ten on training the sailors, I score him a twenty-five.”

“I hope to leave the hospital corps with better experiences passed down to the other corpsmen,” said Gartman. “I’m here to make all of my sailors not only better people, but better corpsmen”

MARINES having success in Afghanistan, but being spread thin

This is from MSNBC. The Marines have suffered no casualties since they took on the Taliban in Afghanistan. Unfortunately no one from NATO wants to setup to secure the areas the Marines take. What a mess. Would someone please tell me when Iraq struck the US??? Why are over 85% of our combat forces there rather in Afghanistan?

Anyways. here is the video.

Tribute video to US Army medics. IMEF CASEVAC

This is posted on the Front page as well. Video author: rayethon
Tribute video to US Army medics. IMEF CASEVAC

MSNBC UPDATE AFHGANISTAN 24th MEU

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