Officer Augmentation

All NOAA Corps officers are reminded to keep their ship augmentation availability up to date on OMAO's Deck Officer Availability spreadsheet. As operational specialists, augmenting is a valuable way for officers to remain sharp, broaden their career experiences, and become familiar with ships across the fleet. By augmenting you enable your shipmates the opportunity to take leave during the field season or tend to emergencies that may arise. It is recommended that all officers ashore augment up to 30 days per year with supervisor approval. Ensure your signed orders are uploaded to your OPF and submitted to payroll upon completion of your augmentation.

DoD Announces Policy Change on Transfer of Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits

The Defense Department issued a substantive change to its policy on the transfer by servicemembers in the uniformed services of Post-9/11 GI Bill educational benefits to eligible family members.

Effective July 12, 2019, eligibility to transfer benefits will be limited to servicemembers with less than 16 years of active duty or selected reserve service to ensure you will meet the four year service requirement prior to becoming eligible to retire.

Previously, there were no restrictions on when a servicemember could transfer educational benefits to their family members, provided they satisfied a four-year commitment after the transfer. The provision that requires a servicemember to have at least six years of service to apply to transfer benefits remains unchanged in the policy.

If servicemembers fail to fulfill their service obligation as a result of being twice passed over for promotion -- the change will allow them to retain their eligibility to transfer education benefits even if they haven't served the entirety of their obligated service commitment through no fault of their own.

All approvals for transferability of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits continue to require a four-year commitment in a uniformed service and, more importantly, the member must be eligible to be retained for four years from the date of election.

Please see these links for additional information:
https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1573240/dod-announces-policy-change-on-transfer-of-post-911-gi-bill-benefits
https://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/post911_transfer.asp

From the Assignments Desk: Billet # 2522 – XO, Protected Resources Division

Billet 2522 is an O-4 billet located in Saint Petersburg, Florida at the NMFS Southeast Regional Office. The XO of the Protected Resources Division is in charge of overseeing all aspects of the division's administrative support from budgeting, to travel, to policymaking. The billet will provide excellent exposure to a wide range of fishery management and conservation issues, but fisheries education or background is not required. Candidates for this billet should possess strong leadership skills and proficiency in information management systems as increasing emphasis is being placed on electronic processes.

Duties include:

• Providing division-wide support for Assistant Regional Administrator and five branch chiefs
• Managing and supervising administrative support personnel
• Planning and tracking division's budget which includes approximately $6.6M in permanent appropriations across nine project codes
• Overseeing division's FOIA obligations
• Designing procedures and policies with the goal of improving efficiency across the division's five branches

Please contact CDR Nicholas Chrobak at nicholas.chrobak@noaa.gov and/or the Assignment Coordinator at assignmentbranch.cpc@noaa.gov for further details.

From the Assignments Desk: Billet # 3447 – American Samoa/Antarctica Station Chief

The Earth System Research Laboratory's Global Monitoring Division (ESRL/GMD) is holding interviews for the 2021/2022 American Samoa/South Pole Station Chief in July 2019. ESRL/GMD operates four remote Atmospheric Baseline Observatories strategically positioned around the globe. The long-term datasets collected at these observatories track atmospheric constituents that drive climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, and baseline air quality.

The officer selected for this billet will train in Boulder, Colorado for six months before spending one year at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica running a similar suite of instruments, coordinating shipping logistics, and assisting with other station duties at NOAA's South Pole Observatory. The officer will then return to Boulder for additional training before spending one year at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica running a similar suite of instruments at NOAA's South Pole Observatory, coordinating shipping logistics, and assisting with other station duties.

This billet provides independent, self-starting, adventurous individuals with the opportunity to live in the tropical South Pacific, experience six months of light and six months of darkness in Antarctica, and will have the opportunity to earn the Chief of Party insignia, International Service Ribbon, Arctic Service Medal, and Antarctic Service Medal – all within one billet.

Interested officers should update their billet preferences and send their biographies and resumes to Christy Schultz at christine.schultz@noaa.gov no later than 30 June. Phone interviews will be conducted in early-to-mid July.