Happy New Year!
I hope that all of you enjoyed your holidays, whether able to take a break or continuing to work. The start of a new year is often time for reflection, resolutions and new beginnings. With that in mind, I wanted to share a couple of things with all of you. First, access the following link for the USCG Commandant's 2018 reading list – with thanks to CDR Miller for passing it on. The list includes an intro by Admiral Zukunft that states a commitment to "reinforce a culture of excellence and highlight the importance of leadership at all levels" which is certainly something for which we can all strive.
https://allhands.coastguard.dodlive.mil/2018/01/01/commandants-2018-reading-list/
I also wanted to share a "thank you" note from LCDR Winner and his family for the support they received following the Northern California fires which destroyed their home. The message is one of appreciation, new beginnings and a reminder that when we are faced with struggles it is the comfort and support offered by friends and family which keeps us going.
The last couple of months have been a blur and it has been a very emotionally challenging time for me and my family. But it has been made easier thanks to the amazing support of the NOAA Corps, OMAO, and the many people in NOAA outside of those two groups that I have worked with during my time as an officer. My wife and I have been amazed over the last two months at the outpouring of support we have received and I wanted to take the time to thank everyone.
We have received support in so many ways, whether it was boxes of books and toys for my kids sent from various ACO groups or the many of you that individually donated monetarily to us. I was humbled to see the names of so many people whether it was the many retired Corps officers or the mother of a professional mariner in the augmentation pool who I have never sailed with.
I would also like to specifically thank a few people: CAPT Bridgeman, CAPT Roberts, and CDR Evans who helped me get ashore as quickly as possible; LT Vejar and LCDR Wartick who helped cover XO duties while I was gone and helped me dig out after I returned; Katherine Raymond for her assistance with making sure that my family was taken care of while they were evacuated; and RDML Smith for taking time to call and make sure that my family was safe and that we were being taken care of.
This has been made harder by the fact that I am afloat right now and my family is not near the ship; but the support of everyone in NOAA, and in particular my command and the marine center, has made it easier. My family is starting to find a new normal. While we can never replace many of the items that were lost, the support that has been provided has helped us to begin anew. Thank you. -William, Laurabelle, Erianna, Danica, and Keegan Winner
Be kind to yourself and those entrusted to your care…
CAPT Anne K. Lynch, NOAA
Director, CPC
| 08 - 12 Jan 2018 | Mid Grade Week One |
| LCDR Jonathan French | 01 Feb 2018 |
| LCDR Madeleine Adler | 01 Mar 2018 |
| RDML Anita Lopez | 01 Mar 2018 |
| LCDR Jennifer Pralgo | 01 Mar 2018 |
| CDR Nathan Hancock | 01 Jun 2018 |
| CAPT Robert Kamphaus | 01 AUG 2018 |
Although little noted by historians of the West, one of the greatest surveys in our scientific history was the survey of the 39th Parallel. This was done in the late Nineteenth Century and served as the backbone of the entire geodetic survey of the United States. Assistant William Eimbeck headed the portion of the survey that ran from the Sierra Nevada to the Colorado plains, an eighteen-year effort that encompassed the better part of Eimbeck's professional life. His work was an example of courage, perseverance, and the highest technical competence. Following is a description of the weather encountered on this portion of the 39th Parallel Survey across the Great Basin through the Rocky Mountains:
"... These thunderstorms, on account of their persistency among the high mountains, have frequently given rise to much suffering, danger, and delay in the progress of the work. They would envelop or hover around the mountains for days in succession, accompanied by the most violent electrical discharges and thunderbolts imaginable. During such times the whole mountain top fairly hummed or hissed by virtue of escaping electricity, and sparks a couple of inches in length could easily be drawn from any exposed insulated object.... Though no fatality is, fortunately, to be recorded, they proved, nevertheless, the main cause of discomfort and danger to the party exposed to their fury. The highly attenuated state of the atmosphere, the icy blasts during stormy periods, often accompanied by hail and snow, contributed their share to the depressing and dismal feeling during such exposures. The experience of the heliotropers would seem to have been more perilous, for three of the signals, and a theodolite were demolished by lightning. The (so-called) equinoctial snowstorms which annually break over these mountains with surprising regularity were borne without concern. They arrive about the beginning of October, and though sometimes severe and followed by intense cold, they seldom caused other than mere temporary interruption in the communication with the camp below."
All travel vouchers must be submitted to Jerrard Baker no later than the 14th to allow processing within that month. The submission of PCS travel vouchers are unchanged; send your endorsed orders with your PCS travel voucher (DD Form 1351-2) via email to Jerrard.Baker@noaa.gov. Once the voucher has been computed and approved at CPC, it will be emailed to NOAA Finance and the traveler will be copied. If the voucher is not sent to Finance before the 21st, it will be submitted at the beginning of the following month for processing.
Once your travel voucher has been provided to Finance, CPC staff no longer has control of when you will receive your payment. If after 30 calendar days you have not received payment or notification about your payment, please contact Jerrard Baker to request voucher status.
Unaccompanied Air Baggage (UAB), mileage for more than 1 POV, and Professional Gear (Pro Gear) must be requested in advance of PCS on the Travel Request form. If these items are not on your orders when they are issued, then these items are not authorized. Officer orders will not be amended to authorize after the move has been executed.