Message from the Director

NOAA Corps Community -

December is an exciting month in the NOAA Corps, and there are many important items to report. First and foremost, however, are the Aviation and Marine Safety Seminars that occurred this week. The teams organized and delivered thoughtful and meaningful sessions to highlight our numerous achievements, discuss best practices, learn from each other, and identify how we can improve our organization in 2021 and beyond. These conferences play a significant role in how we build upon our experiences and continue to reach our OMAO Strategic Plan goals:

  • Goal One, People: Sustain a high performing, healthy, and satisfied workforce.
  • Goal Two, Platforms: Optimize platform operations and mission system capabilities.
  • Goal Three, Culture: Advance a culture of safety, respect, unity, and excellence.

Congratulations to MO and AOC for completing these critical activities, and thank you for allowing CPC to play a role.

With the OMAO leadership transition forthcoming, I am pleased to report that CAPT(sel) Douglas E. MacIntyre will be the next Director, CPC. CAPT(sel) MacIntyre has recently been serving as the Chief of Staff, OMAO Operations where he has been integral in advancing several key initiatives supporting the OMAO Deputy Director for Operations and Deputy Director of the NOAA Corps. During his tenure, he has served as the Project Manager for NOAA's acquisition of a new King Air 350CER aircraft and overseeing the first wave of comprehensive COVID-19 testing contracts that have enabled our platforms to resume operations. CAPT(sel) MacIntyre previously served as the Deputy Chief of Maintenance at the Aircraft Operations Center, where he qualified as Aircraft Commander in our only high altitude 'Hurricane Hunter' research jet, the Gulfstream-IV, and is also qualified flying the DHC-6 Twin Otters. CAPT(sel) MacIntyre began his career out to sea in 2001 on NOAA Ship McArthur and NOAA Ship McArthur II before transitioning to flight in 2004. CAPT(sel) MacIntyre is planning to assume the position in early January. Please join me in congratulating CAPT (sel) MacIntyre to be the next Director, CPC.

Many of you have likely noticed that the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives passed key NOAA Corps legislation: : S.2981 - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps Amendments Act of 2020. This is a pivotal time in history for the organization and the leadership team is watching this legislation closely as it routes to the White House for consideration by the President. Pending the President's signature, we will have much to discuss on this service-enhancing legislation and what it will take to implement.

There are several announcements and calls for assistance below to make our NOAA Corps function at its highest level. I encourage you to keep reading and consider lending a hand if you have the capacity and interest.

Keep up the great work, be safe, and I look forward to connecting with you.

Warm Regards,

Directors signature
CAPT Chad Cary, NOAA
Director, Commissioned Personnel Center

On the Horizon

Dec 2020 Aviation Advisory Board, Initial Flight Training
06 Jan 2021 BOTC 137 Starts

Approved Resignations, Separations and Retirements

LCDR Ryan Wartick 01 Jan 2021
CDR Sean Cimilluca 01 Mar 2021
LTJG Tyler Fifield 22 Mar 2021
RADM Michael J. Silah 01 Apr 2021
CDR Paul Kunicki 01 May 2021

Leaders in the NOAA Corps - LTJG Marisa Gedney

LTJG Marisa Gedney just returned from 13 months stationed at the South Pole, serving as the OAR Global Monitoring Laboratory's Antarctic Station Chief. During her six solid months of sunlight and six solid months of darkness, she worked diligently with another NOAA technician to operate and maintain the South Pole Atmospheric Baseline Observatory's climatology instrumentation and coordinate observatory shipping and logistics. Additionally, LTJG Gedney led the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station's firefighting emergency response team. She planned and led training exercises for the 10-person crew throughout the year, transforming the green team into a functional unit that safely responded to station emergencies. She'll now use her unique experience to train the next officer bound for the American Samoa and South Pole Atmospheric Baseline Observatories.

Volunteers Needed - Call for Interviewers for BOTC 138

NOAA Corps Recruiting is looking for 20-30 motivated Officers (O2-O4) who are willing to complete interviews for BOTC 138. BOTC 138 will begin in July of 2021, and NOAA recruiting expects it to be one of the most highly applied-for classes in NOAA Corps History! To improve consistency, Recruiting is asking each interviewer to conduct a minimum of 5 interviews.

Officers will conduct all interviews virtually via Google Meet. Interviews can be scheduled as early as the last week of December, with all interviews completed by February 1st.

This interview process is your chance to have a direct hand in shaping the future of the NOAA Corps. Please email LT Pawlishen at NOAACorps.Recruiting@noaa.gov if you are interested.

Volunteers Needed - D&I Iinitiative to Improve Retention of Underrepresented Service Members

In conjunction with the OMAO 2021-2025 Strategic Plan and the NOAA Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan 2020-2024, increasing the diversity of the workforce is a top priority. As you might have heard, the CPC team is working diligently to improve our recruiting efforts to bring diverse officers into the NOAA Corps. To not squander this recruiting effort, it is essential we also prioritize how to retain the best and brightest diversity of talent.

I am looking for volunteers from all ranks to participate in a working group. The tasks of the working group will be the following:

  • Analyze existing information on retention, both from within and outside of NOAA, in a coordinated approach (e.g., NJAC and other anonymous survey results, anonymous exit interview information, USCG/USN and other previously completed reports, lessons from the private sector, etc.)
  • Draft a summary to answer the following question: "why are people from historically underrepresented groups leaving the NOAA Corps?"
  • Organize information and examine preliminary takeaways from existing information against the NOAA Corps business model and OMAO 2021-2025 Strategic Plan.
  • Socialize interim findings/draft conclusions with the greater NOAA Corps before finalizing recommendations.
  • Publish a summary of findings with prioritized recommendations to improve retention.

I encourage you to assess your level of commitment to this task before volunteering. This is not a trivial request and will require a fair amount of effort. It is estimated that the working group will spend approximately 2-3 hours per week for about 10 weeks on this task. Some of your time will be spent working independently, and some of it will be working (virtually) with the group. If you find satisfaction in collaborating with your fellow officers (NOAA Corps and Public Health Service), sharing the burden of labor, and brainstorming ways to make our NOAA Corps reach its full potential then I fully encourage you to apply. If you enjoy discussion but are hard to find when the work starts, this isn't for you.

Please make sure you have supervisory approval before volunteering. Please send an email to director.cpc@noaa.gov before COB December 17th if you wish to participate. Thank you for considering this request!

BOTC 136

BOTC 136 completed their training on December 3rd and stepped off the next day to begin their journey to their ships. The class wrapped up their training with a four-day Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) class. The NOAA Corps Officer Training Center is now preparing for BOTC 137, which steps foot on the United States Coast Guard Academy campus to begin their training on January 6th.

Direct Access Down For Maintenance

The USCG pay and personnel system, Direct Access, will be down for will be down for maintenance from December 18, 2020 through January 4, 2021. This maintenance may cause a short delay of some pay actions. Please direct any questions to the NOAA Corps Payroll Unit at noaacorps.payrollunit@noaa.gov

PCS Travel Voucher backlog

There was a backlog with processing PCS vouchers at NOAA Finance due to manning. The new Relocation Coordinator has been trained and began processing NOAA Corps on Friday. At this time, finance has not processed 5 NOAA Corps vouchers. Starting next week, NOAA Finance will be processing NOAA Corps documents within two weeks. Continue to notify your HR Specialist if you have not received reimbursement of your claim within 30 days so they can continue to check on the status of your claim.

EOY Package 2020

The End of Year package will be available in early January 2021 and will remain open through February. You may use this time to get a head start on the package by reviewing your OPF and ensuring completeness. Please direct any questions to LT Steve Moulton, stephen.f.moulton@noaa.gov.

Social Security Payroll Tax Deferral

Effective last September, the IRS deferred the 6.2 Social Security Tax if your monthly basic pay rate was less than $8666.66. If your monthly rate of basic pay was at or above the threshold, your social security tax withholding was not affected. Per IRS guidance, they will collect the deferred taxes from your wages between January 1, and April 30, 2021. Please see the DFAS website for FAQ's and a Fact Sheet. https://www.dfas.mil/taxes/Social-Security-Deferral/. And the IRS guidance is available at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-20-65.pdf.