Happy Friday, Colleagues,
As I sit in New London this afternoon at the NOAA Corps Officer Training Center and wait to attend BOTC-143 / OCS 2-24 Billet Night, it’s hard to believe that I’ve already been in the Director CPC chair for one year – time flies! It has been quite a year to say the least, including bringing on the largest basic officer training classes in recent history; absorbing and starting to move forward with recommendations from two internal assessment mechanisms; and executing the budget, personnel, and career management actions necessary to grow the NOAA Corps to its largest levels in decades; CPC has been at the forefront of a great deal of both challenging and exciting organizational changes. Through any period of organizational change, uncertainty is often felt by those within and executing the change, as well as those who may be impacted by its results. However, I am heartened that any change towards improvement of NOAA Corps related and/or customer organizations is both supported and successfully enabled in innumerable impactful ways through our common passion towards service.
This evening, 22 NOAA Corps officer candidates will find out their first assignments following basic training, and the excitement that will be felt in that moment is a testament to this passion. A reminder of why we’re all here, these OCs selflessly volunteered by raising their right hands and swearing the oath of office almost two months ago, and they are now gearing up to take their energy and newfound skills & knowledge to the sea and sky in support of our national and agency priorities. I tip my hat to them, and encourage us all to take a moment to celebrate this common uniformed service thread that connects us as we lead NOAA and the Nation through change.
As always, please continue to take care of yourselves and each other.
Best Regards,
Captain Chris van Westendorp, NOAA
Director, Commissioned Personnel Center
| 8 Mar 2024 | BOTC 143 Billet Night |
| 11 Mar 2024 | BOTC 143 Ship Handling on T-Boats! |
| 3 Apr 2024 | Officer Assignment Board |
| 5 Apr 2024 | BOTC 143 Graduation |
| 24 Apr 2024 | Initial Flight AAB |
| 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 Emily Bell | 01 Apr 2024 |
| LT Kyle Cosentino | 25 Apr 2024 |
| LCDR Nicholas Toth | 01 May 2024 |
| CAPT Nicholas Chrobak | 01 Jun 2024 |
| LTJG Brianna Villalon | 01 Jun 2024 |
| LCDR David Wang | 30 Jun 2024 |
Week seven at BOTC has drawn to a close, marking a significant milestone for our Officer Candidates as they transition to senior status. This pivotal moment heralds the opportunity for OC’s to enjoy liberty privileges, affording them a glimpse of life beyond Chase Hall.
Academic pursuits have intensified, with all OC’s successfully completing their Rules of the Road (ROTR) exam, eager to begin their study into maritime navigation and ship stability. Furthermore, we are pleased to announce that all candidates have excelled in their second HPR, reflecting a creditable increase in performance.
In a significant step towards their future roles, candidates have recently submitted their billet preferences and await the unveiling of their initial assignments today; remember to tune into the livestream at 1800 EST. Concurrently, preparations for their initial assignment relocation are underway, as OC’s have been learning more about the transition process and their first PCS.
March 3rd saw the engagement of BOTC 143 in a meaningful community initiative, collaborating with the Ocean Recovery Community Alliance (ORCA) in Narragansett, RI, to participate in a beach cleanup. Their efforts, alongside fellow Coast Guard volunteers, culminated in the collection of over 630lbs of debris, demonstrating their commitment to the NOAA Corps values and ethos as stewards of our oceans.
Alfa 4 marching in last Friday's drill competition. PC: OC Hempel |
OC Dye and Castile PC: OC Rodriguez-Garcia, USCG |
OCs at the beach cleanup. PC OC Rodriguez-Garcia, USCG |
Thank you to those officers who contacted CPC with their outstanding PCS voucher information. We understand that NOAA Finance has manually executed reimbursement for a number of those officers, and we ask you to please confirm your repayment in an email to Director.CPC@noaa.gov. For those who have not reported their unpaid PCS voucher for escalation, please do so via email to Director.CPC@noaa.gov with your unreimbursed voucher information (including PCS number [e.g. YAN1Pxxxx], amount owed, PCS dates, and from/to locations), and we will elevate those individual unpaid vouchers accordingly.
After a thorough review of several outstanding and competitive nominations, we are excited to share the 2024 SAME Award selectees! Awardees will be honored in person at the SAME Joint Engineering Training Conference Society Ball in Orlando, Florida on May 16th.
The SAME Colbert Award goes to LT Taylor Krabiel, for his dedication, innovation, and leadership in the hydrographic field aboard NOAA Ship Fairweather. From efforts to integrate crowd-sourced bathymetry into operations, quick development of shoreline survey methods, and partnerships with the USCG Buoy Tender Cypress, LT Krabiel made innovative contributions to developing hydrographic research and improving navigational safety across crucial waterways.
The SAME Karo Award goes to the Antarctic Holt Watters Camp construction and science field unit crew, for teamwork and engineering brilliance at Holt Watters Field Camp. They worked both physically and mentally to bring to life a state-of-the-art field camp fit to survive the harsh conditions at Cape Shirreff, Antarctica. Partnering with Bespoke Project Solutions and the student-run University of Colorado, Colorado Building Workshop, the team of NOAA employees and NOAA Corps Officers with the Ecosystem Science Division at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center designed and constructed research buildings that could be packed into three shipping containers and transported via ship, ATV and a small inflatable boat to be assembled on Cape Shirreff. The result is a new camp strong enough to withstand the elements, consciously designed for minimal environmental impact, and will provide for critical data collection for years to come. Read more at their story map here.
Thank you to all who nominated colleagues for these awards. This year marks the first time in over a decade that NOAA Corps has participated in the SAME awards, and the selection committee was blown away by the excellent caliber of accomplishments by all nominations. All NOAA Corps officers and NOAA employees should be proud of the work we accomplish together.
For questions about the SAME NOAA Awards or the conference, reach out to CAPT Sam Greenaway, SAME NOAA Service Principal, and LTJG Alice Beittel, SAME NOAA Service Liaison. The next round of award solicitations will be in early 2025.
As a reminder, an Aviation Advisory Board will convene April 24th to recommend officers for initial flight training. For questions about NOAA aviation careers, contact LCDR Joshua Rannenberg (aoc.chiefadmin@noaa.gov). Submit all documents for the USCG Class I flight physicals to CAPT Joe Newcomb, USPHS, (joseph.newcomb@noaa.gov) or (863) 500-3991.
Submit all other paperwork (Application - NOAA Form 56-43, AFOQT and TBAS results, supervisor endorsement, and recommendations) to LT Trede (assignmentbranch.cpc@noaa.gov) no later than COB April 15, 2024 so that you can be included in the board materials.