Shipment of Household Goods – New Procedure

Effective immediately, officers are now able to contact Move Management prior to submission of the Travel Request Form (NF 56-26) and receipt of PCS Orders. You may now contact Move Management up to 90 days before your scheduled move date and begin the process of moving your Household Goods (HHG). Move Management will assist you in obtaining a professional weight estimate of your HHG prior to the actual move. Please contact Move Management at (1-800-723-2394) or email them at mmi.gsa@movemgt.com .

Officers who have not received orders but have approved assignment changes and impending moves should get their estimates done as soon as possible. Once you have finished the estimate with Move Management, complete the travel request form (NF 56-26) and send it to Jerrard Baker (Last Name A-K) or Gladys Faxio (Last Name L-Z) to complete your PCS orders.

CAUTION: Elective Surgery Ahead

One issue that tends to catch a few officers by surprise and can put you at risk of a disciplinary action is elective surgery. One of the more common elective surgeries is lasik eye surgery. Certainly people are familiar with this surgery as it seems that every eye doctor who works in a city with a radio station has an ad that sings the praises of being able to throw away your glasses glasses and have perfect vision for life. What most people are unaware of is that there are two different types of lasik surgery and the USCG Medical Manual (our standard for fitness for duty) provides two different lengths of time required for full recovery. One of the procedures has a surprisingly lengthy period of time before an individual may be considered fully recovered and fit for full and unrestricted duty. In one instance, the minimum amount of time to recover from the procedure nearly cost an Officer a disciplinary letter as well as the sea days they needed to qualify as an OOD.

Be cautious! Don't put your fitness for duty at risk for an elective procedure! ANY elective procedure must be approved by the Director of Health Services (previously CAPT Powers, now CDR Cruise, currently Acting.) Moral of the story – no matter how benign the procedure may seem, get approval from the Director, Health Services before you pursue elective surgery. The minimum amount of time for recovery may surprise you!

Blended Retirement System (BRS) Leader Course

As part of the preparation and roll-out of the BRS, the Department of Defense has created a publicly-accessible "BRS Leaders Course" on the Joint Knowledge Online training site. This course is intended to familiarize enlisted, warrant, and officer leadership of each service with the basics of the Blended Retirement System in order to answer simple questions from junior members.

If you:

• will have less than 12 years of active service before December 31, 2017, or
• have a lot of contact with officers who will have less than 12 years of service before December 31, 2017, or
• are simply curious or know someone who is considering serving in our Nation's uniformed service and want to provide advice from your perspective

you are HIGHLY ENCOURAGED to take this course.

All officers eligible for the BRS are strongly advised to consider your financial, personal, and professional goals in order to make an informed decision regarding your enrollment or denial. The services of a certified financial counselor are highly recommended. The military services will be providing additional training and resources to help educate and inform anyone eligible to make such a significant decision. The decision will be irrevocable, so prepare yourself and choose wisely!

Ask OMAO

In case you missed it, OMAO now has an electronic suggestion and comment "box" with a direct line to RADM Score. If you have any suggestions on how to make OMAO a better place to work, OMAO leadership wants to hear those ideas year-round, not just during annual employee surveys. AskOMAO@noaa.gov is an additional communication channel between OMAO employees and OMAO leadership and you are encouraged to send ideas, questions, and concerns that are not being addressed locally to this email address. You will receive a prompt reply, generally within 72 hours.

Bear in mind, your supervisors remain your primary resource for addressing routine concerns and are there to work with you and help solve any problems you may have. However, if working through your chain of command has not addressed your concerns or answered your questions please use AskOMAO@noaa.gov.

USCG Retiree's Caregivers' Guide

There is no single source of critical retiree entitlement and benefits information. The USCG Retiree's Caregivers' Guide assembles key information in a concise format and provides reference and source materials and key points of contact. This information is essential to adult children of retirees, including retired reservists, dependents (e.g., spouses), social workers and others engaged in caring for and supporting the retiree, annuitant, and/or dependent. The guide provides critical information on the Primary service-related Retiree Benefits: pension and health care. The Guide does not does cover Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security benefits and state and local resources and programs to which the retiree may also be entitled. Download the guide here.

From the Assignments Desk

NOS Billet #7652: Marine Operations Coordinator, FBNMS

The Office of National Marine Sanctuary is looking for a self-driven officer to serve in a remote National Marine Sanctuary assignment. This billet is located in Pago Pago, American Samoa and offers an officer the opportunity to serve at the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which comprises a fringing coral reef ecosystem nestled within an eroded volcanic crater on the island of Tutuila, American Samoa. The officer will be responsible for managing day-to-day operations of existing vessels, leading efforts to acquire replacement or additional assets, implementing field operations designed to achieve site specific goals and objectives, and serve in roles related to facilities, safety, vessel and aircraft. The officer will also serve as the liaison to the U.S. Coast Guard, NOAA Law enforcement, and other agencies with small boat operations in American Samoa.

This billet provides the incumbent with an opportunity to gain leadership experience through oversight of vessel operations and projects within FBNMS and have the opportunity to execute budgets, oversee projects, develop operational plans, and participate in inter-agency collaborations.

For more information please contact LCDR Eric T. Johnson at eric.t.johnson@noaa.gov or CDR Nicholas Chrobak at AssignmentBranch.CPC@noaa.gov.

OMAO Intranet Hosts Training Portal

On May 19th, Admiral Score announced the release of the "new" OMAO Intranet. Effective that day, the OMAO Learning Office officially migrated the Training Portal to the OMAO Intranet under "Training and Development", with updated content. If you have links to the old Training Portal, please check out the new Intranet and reassign your links. Lastly, our learning topics are listed below and include a new "About the Learning Office (Training)" page explaining our role within OMAO.

How to Submit OPF Updates

Lately, several officers of various ranks have submitted documents for their e-OPFs incorrectly. Please follow this guidance to save yourself the hassle of resubmitting in the future.

Be sure to select the proper category from the drop-down menu when adding items to your OPF. This determines how the OPF Fix Case gets routed. If you're adding a training certificate, a qualification letter, or a transcript, select "Training/Education/Qualification." This sends the item to the cpc.training@noaa.gov email, where the Chief, OCMD and the Leadership Coordinator can see and process it.

Reminder: submit each document as a separate OPF Fix case, even if two seem related (e.g. NOAA Working Diver designation letter and NOAA Dive Training Certificate).

Make sure each document:

• Is legible
• Is straight (no crooked scans or photos)
• Has a legible date (esp. USCG licenses or endorsements - write it in or include in "Description" if needed)
• Is tagged as proper category in drop-down menu
• Is only submitted once
• Isn't a duplicate of what's already in your OPF; if it's to replace the existing document on file, tell us that in the "Description"

If you submit a document incorrectly or without a date, your request will be denied. We aim to help and support our officers wherever they are. That said, as a lean team, we rely on you to meet your responsibilities. When in doubt, ask us for advice. We're happy to guide you.

Attention BOTC 127

Several of you have correctly submitted your training certificates via OPF Fix. Thanks for getting those in. They have been added to your OPF, but you may not see them in the OPF Training History yet. This is because OCMD is working to resolve a small technical issue in our database. We hope to update that within the next two weeks. In the meantime, you can view your certificates under the Official Personnel File tab.

Change to CLC Course in NOAA Corps 2: LT Curriculum for Officer Promotion - 'Federal Budgeting Process' Course Retired

The 'Federal Budgeting Process' course within the NOAA Corps 2: LT curriculum has been retired due to outdated content. Please complete the rest of the LT curriculum while OCMD, NOAA, and the OMAO Learning Office look for a suitable replacement. If this is the sole course remaining for you to complete the NOAA Corps 2: LT curriculum, please contact cpc.training@noaa.gov.

Articles of Interest

• "Your Subordinates Know More About You Than You Know"
• "Surviving Military Spouse Benefit to Increase this Fall"
• "Military Pay Raise, TRICARE Reform Bill Advances in Senate"