Fellow NOAA Corps officers,
Last week I had the opportunity to travel to both Kansas City, MO and Lakeland, FL to spend time at the Marine Operations Leadership Summit (MOLS) and the AOC Safety Seminar. I was impressed at the energy and enthusiasm displayed by both groups. Some of the main themes of the week were safety, training, and creating a respectful workplace. These are themes continuously in the thoughts and actions of OMAO. Participating in numerous working group discussions, briefings, and trainings I kept on hearing words associated with the NOAA Corps core values: Honor, Respect, Commitment. Our core values directly contribute to these common themes. Commitment includes "serving our nation effectively and efficiently with knowledge, skill, loyalty, and perseverance." Knowledge and skill is enhanced through training and proper training leads to increased safety. Honor includes "taking responsibility for our actions and being accountable for our professional and personal behavior." Taking responsibility and being accountable leads to increased safety and a more respectful workplace. Respect includes "treating each individual with human dignity" and "valuing inclusiveness and tolerance", all of which create a more respectful workplace. The NOAA Corps core values serve to remind us of the importance of the profession we have chosen, the oath we took, and the demands placed upon us as members of a uniformed service. Thank you all for living these core values every day.
This will be the last Cyberflash of 2018 so on behalf of CPC, I would like to wish all NOAA Corps active duty and retired officers, their families, and our supporters a safe and happy holiday season!
CAPT Devin Brakob, NOAA
Director, Commissioned Personnel Center
| 15 Jan 2019 | Operations Officer Working Group |
| LT Joseph Phillips | 18 Jan 2019 |
| LTJG Sarah Chappel | 31 Jan 2019 |
| CDR George Miller | 01 Feb 2019 |
| CAPT Scott Sirois | 01 Feb 2019 |
| LT Sara Sheehan | 01 Feb 2019 |
| LT Jason Baillio | 01 Mar 2019 |
| LT Andrew Clos | 19 Mar 2019 |
| LT Felicia Drummond | 29 Mar 2019 |
| LCDR Kyle Byers | 01 Apr 2019 |
| CDR Thomas Peltzer | 01 Apr 2019 |
Congratulations to BOTC 132 and OCS 1-19! The class graduated on Tuesday, November 20, after 17 weeks of rigorous training, preparing them to enter the fleet as Junior Officers.
Please help us in recognizing the following award recipients:
After graduation, BOTC 132 had their first underway experience on a NOAA platform aboard NOAA Ship Pisces. A big shout out to the officers and crew of Pisces for giving the students a great introduction to life at sea!
Congratulations to our new officers for demonstrating excellence throughout BOTC!
The ensigns recently completed their BOTC graduation cruise aboard NOAA Ship Pisces, where they experienced their first underway transit aboard a NOAA ship and the opportunity to sail in the Gulf of Mexico. A special thanks to the wardroom and crew of Pisces for giving the students a wonderful introduction to life as a NOAA Corps officer.
Part of our responsibilities as rated officers is to ensure complete coverage of service time with no gaps or overlaps between reporting periods. Several officers have been identified as missing one or more performance reports during their NOAA career. Please log into your OPF and if you have a gap or are missing any other reports, please contact the responsible rating chain, the Director, CPC, and oer.cpc@noaa.gov to ensure all your time is covered (Directives Chapter 4, Part 4, Section 04404 (c)(9-10)). It is extremely important officers keep an accurate and complete record of their service as it helps inform decisions on promotions, assignments, and career development.
An Operations Officer Recommendation Working Group is scheduled on January 15, 2019 to make recommendations for Operations Officer assignments. Any officer within two years of rotation could be considered for these ship assignments. Please ensure your assignment preferences are updated to reflect your latest interest, and reach out to ships and Marine Center COs to discuss possible OPS assignments. For any questions, please contact CDR Stephen Kuzirian at assignmentbranch.cpc@noaa.gov or by phone at 301-713-7694.
The Executive Committee of National ACO Scholarships, Inc. has issued its annual call to high school seniors and college undergrads for applications for scholarship awards for the 2019/2020 academic year. The two-page application form is available on the "Resources" page of the NOAA Officer Family Association website (https://www.nofaweb.org/), under the heading "National ACO Scholarships, Inc." Application forms may also be obtained by contacting Secretary/Treasurer Captain Dave Peterson, NOAA (Ret), by phone (301-921-6357) or email (kmpdhp@comcast.net). Complete application packages should be sent to the corporation's post office address (on the application form) and should be postmarked this year no later than Monday, April 15, 2019.
Annual system maintenance will cause Direct Access/Peoplesoft to be offline from December 23, 2018 through January 2, 2019. Please see to your immediate HR business within the Payroll system next week or it will have to be managed next year. For assistance or information you can reach out to LCDR Laura Gibson at 301-713-7712.