Good afternoon and Happy Friday, Colleagues,
Grow where you are planted.
I heard the above phrase uttered by RADM Hann and several of the CPC staff a few times over the last couple of weeks and wanted to share it, as I view it as sage wisdom. While I’m not necessarily suggesting that we all have a destiny, I do personally believe that we end up exactly where we need to be, when we need to be there. That said, sometimes this idea has been difficult for me to reconcile, particularly during periods of my work and personal life that have been the darkest and/or most challenging. However, no matter where or when I was in those challenging places or periods, I managed to work through them, learn from them, and end up better as a result of them; growth requires a little struggle, stretching, and help from our families, friends and colleagues.
Which leads me to the topic of assignments! CPC recently helped facilitate an Operations Officer Working Group, and an Officer Assignment Board and Command Assignment Board are also on the near horizon. Ultimately, the purpose of the assignment process is to match the needs of the Service with each officer’s skills, career development needs and personal preferences on a competitive basis. This also means that an officer may or may not receive an assignment that is their top choice, or even in their top four! For me, I received my first preference only once in my career, and often received an assignment that wasn’t on my list at all; but I can say with certainty that every assignment I’ve had was exactly the one that I needed and didn’t know I wanted. So, I encourage you to continue to engage with CPC Career Management and Assignment staff, keep your assignment preferences updated, try to keep an open mind, and embrace that wherever the Service needs you is (likely?) exactly where you need to be.
As always, be well and take care of yourselves and each other.
Best Regards,
Captain Chris van Westendorp, NOAA
Director, Commissioned Personnel Center
P.S. An official invitation to the upcoming 2/8/2024 NOAA Corps All Hands is coming soon, so please think about and submit any topics or questions you’d like for us to address in the NOAA Corps All Hands question form linked here.
| 31 Jan 2024 | CPC Webinar - OER Writing |
| 7 Feb 2024 | Officer Assignment Board |
| 8 Feb 2024 | NOAA Corps All hands |
| 6 Mar 2024 | Command Advisory Board |
| 8 Mar 2024 | BOTC 143 Billet Night |
| 5 Apr 2024 | BOTC 143 Graduation |
| 24 Apr 2024 | Initial Flight AAB |
| LTJG Tyler Aldrich | 31 Jan 2024 |
| LTJG Jonas Veazey | 01 Feb 2024 |
| LTJG Gabriella McGann | 15 Feb 2024 |
| LTJG Katherine Mitchell | 20 Feb 2024 |
| ENS Norman Sween | 29 Feb 2024 |
| LTJG John Atnip | 15 Mar 2024 |
| LTJG Cabot Zucker | 15 Mar 2024 |
| CDR Briana Hillstrom | 01 Apr 2024 |
| CDR Matthew Nardi | 01 Apr 2024 |
| LCDR Matthew Forney | 01 Apr 2024 |
| LT Kyle Cosentino | 25 Apr 2024 |
| LCDR Nicholas Toth | 01 May 2024 |
BOTC 143 is officially underway. The class, along with their Coast Guard shipmates in OCS 2-24, is finishing Indoctrination Week and starting the Junior Phase of the program. BOTC 143 has completed formations training, learned military customs and courtesies, and is practicing military drill. They have been introduced to the NOAA Line Offices and their possible career tracks as Corps Officers. Next week the class will begin Basic Safety and Firefighting training. Upcoming important dates include Billet Night on March 8th, Leadership Philosophy Panels on April 1st, Graduation on April 5th, and BOTC Capstone training from Apr 8th to May 3rd.
Please join CPC on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, for a one-hour webinar discussion on OER Writing with CAPT Samuel Greenaway. OERs are the primary tool for conveying evaluations of officer performance not only to a reported-on officer, but also to sworn personnel boards for consideration of promotion recommendations, amongst numerous purposes. CAPT Greenaway has graciously agreed to share his perspectives on OERs, including some examples and tips for a well-written OER, as well as what he describes as the joy of OER writing. Please use this linked Google Doc to ask any questions you may have, and they will be addressed during the course of the webinar.
On Tuesday, 1/23/2024, CPC was made aware of a Direct Access system availability issue from non-”.mil” domains (e.g. .com, .gov, .net, etc.). More specifically, all active duty and retired NOAA Corps officers who attempt to login to Direct Access from outside of the “.mil” domain, will be unable to do so, preventing member personal/self-service transactions or pay slip review, among other functions.
At the moment, an estimated time of problem resolution and access to the system has not been shared with CPC, but critical self service actions may be requested and completed by the CPC Payroll Unit directly. Please request any necessary actions via email at noaacorps.payrollunit@noaa.gov.
We apologize for any inconvenience that this situation may cause, and please know that we are actively working with USCG PPC and will communicate when full system access has been restored.
NCOTC is once again looking for volunteers from all ranks and career paths to hold 30-60 minute professional development sessions with the upcoming BOTC class. Topics to be covered will range from the operational opportunities and experiences to managing personal aspects of life as a NOAA Corps officer. BOTC students will have a block of time from 1200-1330 EDT set aside several days of each week for professional development and engagement. This is typically accomplished through meetings and activities with NCOTC staff, and we would like to expand their exposure to other NOAA Corps Officers and professional civilian mariniers in order for the BOTC students to meet and learn from as many people in the fleet as possible.
Please use this google form to view the list of topics and sign up for a session. https://forms.gle/SoTHUqGiBf23fJVz8
While not guaranteed, CPC may have funding to support travel for those interested in an in-person visit and presentation. Due to the dynamic nature of the BOTC program, these dates are the best estimate we have in advance for when the students will be available, but they may be subject to change. We appreciate your understanding and flexibility.
Please email ops.ncotc@noaa.gov or chief.ncotc@noaa.gov with any questions.
CPC is ready to release the newest version of the End of Year Package. Once it goes live, officers should be able to access the End of Year Package via the new OPFOnline landing page. The EOY Package will be open for two months from February 1st through March 31st. If you have any questions, please open an Action Request Ticket within your OPF with the area/category as End of Year Package.
Marine Operations is looking for individuals who are interested in becoming the Prospective Commanding Officer of NOAA Ship Discoverer.
With the most recent vessel delivery schedule, the Prospective Commanding Officer will report on or about October 1, 2024 to Houma, Louisiana. During that time they will oversee the final outfitting, staffing, training and documentation, test, turnover, and commissioning of the ship into the operational fleet. This position would roll over into becoming the ship’s first operational Commanding Officer for a period of time to be determined, but based on the initial length of this assignment.
Any interested officers should contact LT Melissa Trede, Assignment Coordinator, directly at assignmentbranch.cpc@noaa.gov no later than February 6th, 2024, to ensure they are considered by Marine Operations and included at the March Command Advisory Board.