Did You Know? Behavioral Health & Wellness Availability

The Behavioral Health and Wellness (BHW) team and Employee Assistance Program staff are available around the clock for consultations and to support your needs. This includes anything from helping officers to manage stress and anxiety up to Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) sessions in response to significant events.

BHW officers stand ready to support officers that wish to set up individual Wellness Consultations and welcome anyone to contact CAPT Sean Bennett, OMAO BHW Officer at sean.bennett@noaa.gov for guidance. It should be noted that although NOAA’s BHW officers are licensed mental health professionals, in this work setting they are not authorized to provide mental health diagnoses or treatment. Additionally, EAP can offer wellness sessions to all NOAA Corps officers and their family members for up to three (3) sessions per concern.

Navigating Tricare and accessing care can be challenging at times depending on where an officer is located. A helpful Tricare resource for active duty service members traveling or away from homeport is the Tricare Nurse Advice Line. By contacting the Nurse Advice Line, officers are able to talk with a Tricare registered nurse to request assistance finding local care services. The Tricare Nurse Advice Line is also potentially able to schedule emergent appointments and consultations that otherwise could be challenging to obtain. The TRICARE Nurse Advice Line is a free, 24/7 service that connects TRICARE beneficiaries with registered nurses by phone, chat, or video. For phone: Call (800) 874-2273 and select option 1. For chat or video: Visit MHSNurseAdviceLine.com.

For referrals, if an officer has an active referral that they would like to change to their local area, or to a different network provider, this request can be completed by contacting your Tricare regional contractor (Health Net TRICARE West or Humana TRICARE East).

If at any time an officer is experiencing health concerns including mental health and wellness, they are always encouraged to contact NOAA Corps Medical Affairs at noaacorps.medical@noaa.gov to seek guidance. NOAA Corps Medical Affairs has a robust team of capable officers ready to support your needs.

1099R Tax Season Preparations From PPC Topeka

For the 2025 tax season, the Pay and Personnel Center will mail 1099Rs to all retirees and annuitants. It is critical that member mailing addresses are current in Direct Access. Now is the time to update your records using the Self-Service guidance at https://www.dcms.uscg.mil/ppc/ras/ (see “Update Contact Information”). Please do not wait until 2025!

If a 1099R is sent to an old address, a replacement copy will only be available by electronic means. The fastest and most reliable way to obtain a member’s 1099R is by downloading it via Self-Service in DA. User guides are available: Retiree Self-Service Guides

Under special circumstances, replacement paper copies may be requested by following instructions on the PPC RAS website at https://www.dcms.uscg.mil/ppc/ras/ (under “Request Duplicate 1099R and/or 1095B”).

Please note that cyber security requirements dictate that passwords expire every 30 days. Members are encouraged to ensure their password is updated regularly to avoid delays in obtaining tax documents.

OER Reporting Period Reminders

As a reminder to all, the OER cycle is governed by the NOAA Corps Directives (NCD) Chapter 4 Part 4 and the Officer Evaluation System Instructions. We are in "OER Season" for Captains and Commanders (End of Annual Reporting Period - 31 October) and Lieutenant Commanders and Lieutenants (End of Annual Reporting Period - 30 November).

Officers are asked to pay close attention to NCD 04405 and 04406 which provide instruction for when an OER should be completed. The first priority for OER reporting is on an annual (for officers with greater than 3 yrs of service) or semi-annual (for officers with less than 3 yrs of service) cycle. Annual OERs are the default OER. However, annual OERs can be skipped if a different circumstance requiring an OER is going to occur within +/- three months (officers less than 3 yrs of service) or +/- six months (officers more than 3 yrs of service) as long as total reporting period length does not exceed 9 months (officers less than 3 yrs of service) or 18 months (officers more than 3 yrs of service).

Those occasions where an annual may be skipped include only Detachment/Change in Reporting Officer, Detachment of Officer, or Exception OER. While "Promotion" is an option on both OER forms, conducting an OER due to promotion is not authorized per the Directives or the OES Instruction Manual (though, it used to be). Additionally, OERs can only be completed due to the above reasons. OERs that are submitted with arbitrarily chosen end of report dates will be rejected by CPC. IMPORTANT: This includes any situation where an officer may be approaching a promotion board and intends to delay their annual OER to incorporate accomplishments between the annual date and the anticipated promotion board date. Although formerly authorized, this practice is no longer included in the Directives. The end of the reporting period must be attached to either the annual, change in reporting officer, detachment of officer, or exception report date.

Additionally, the most common error (greater than half of all OERs) is incorrect beginning and end of report dates. When completing Section 1 "Administrative Data" Officers should review their prior OER end of report date. The start date of the next OER is NOT the same as the previous end date. The beginning of the next OER is the date immediately after the previous OER end date. For example, if your previous OER ended on 2023-11-30, then the start of the next OER would be 2023-12-01. There cannot be any gaps between the end date of one OER and the start date of the next OER; they must be consecutive. Any period where an officer is in PCS travel and/or leave between assignments should be documented as Days Not Observed.

For any questions on OERs, please consult CDR Andrew Colegrove, Chief of Officer Career Management Division via chief.careermgmt.cpc@noaa.gov.

Recent Changes to NOAA Corps Augmentation

The NOAA Corps Augmentation Policy will undergo some changes after lessons learned during the first year of implementing the new requirements. MO and CPC anticipate these changes occurring this winter and in time for the CY25 sailing season, however we wanted to inform officers asap. Ships have received the following guidance effective immediately which will be codified via policy change this winter:

Ships will submit their needs for Deck Officer Augmentation at least 90 days before the requirement starts using the Deck Officer Augmentation Request (DOAR) Form. This gives visibility to MO Crew and NC Officers looking to comply with the augmentation policy. There may be short notice critical needs that arise as well, however long-term planning for priority needs will be in effect at least 90 days out.

• NC Officers should be proactive and seek out opportunities to augment 90-30 days ahead. Some ships may have submitted needs much earlier than this so it is highly suggested that officers check the list at least once a month until their augmentation requirements are met.
• Officers can reach out to ships directly to ask if any opportunities are coming up, however everything will be coordinated officially through the DOAR list and MO Crew. Officers should reach out to MO-Crew (LCDR Jim Europe) and NOT the ship to respond to requests that are live in the Smartsheet Dashboard.
• CPC Website "Ship Augmentation" link (Augmentation list, conflict form, fleet wide requests)

After the request has been active for 45-60 days, and/or when there are less than 30 days before the requirement starts, MO Crew will begin actively searching for a NOAA Corps Augmenter using data from the Marine Operations Augmentation List linked on the CPC website.

Requests will now be identified by specific categories. Only No Sail, In-port Mandatory, and Mission Critical requests will be credited towards the augmentation policy compliance. The augmentation policy is intended to provide relief for officers assigned to ships and to fill critical needs aboard ships. It is expected that officers will honor these credit and non-credit categories when submitting their trip for credit in their OPF. Officers must check the “non-augmentation” box if they sail aboard ship for any non-creditable event (sea days are still earned via sea service letter, but not policy compliance credit). Officers who intentionally submit a trip as augmentation when it was not may be subject to disciplinary action.

Types of requests

• No Sail: For any permanently assigned Wardroom position going on leave; this will count as credit towards policy compliance (1212).
• In-port mandatory: For any permanently assigned Wardroom position who is going on leave in port at the discretion of the command; this will count as credit towards policy compliance (1212).
• Mission Critical: Anything needed for OPS enhancement. Examples could be needing hydro or fishing experience to complete a mission; this will count as credit towards policy compliance (1212).
• All other request types are non-essential and will not be creditable towards policy compliance. No action will be taken by MO Crew to fill these requests.

Questions, concerns or comments should be directed to all three of the following email addresses: moc.crew.supervisor@noaa.gov, james.r.europe@noaa.gov, and chief.careermgmt.cpc@noaa.gov.

From the Assignments Desk: Billet #7206: Hydrographic Research Assistant, UNH

After a brief pause due to operational constraints the Office of Coast Survey is again seeking applicants for its hydrographic training billets (7206/7207/7208), located at the University of New Hampshire's Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping / Joint Hydrographic Center (https://ccom.unh.edu/education) in Durham, NH. This is a three year assignment that culminates in a Master’s Degree in Ocean Engineering or Earth Science, a Category A hydrographic certification, and is excellent preparation for operational and management roles in the hydrographic and ocean mapping communities.

These billets are rigorous technical programs, requiring undergraduate level courses in calculus and physics. Admission to the program also requires completion of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and a successful application for admission to the university. If accepted and selected, the billet would start in August of 2025/2026/2027 along with the start of UNH’s fall semester. Officers in the program also undertake an independent research project benefitting Coast Survey’s mission, typically starting no later than their 2nd year, to be completed prior to graduation.

Applicants must be an OOD-qualified officer or expect to receive OOD qualification before reporting, and have the educational prerequisites for entry into an UNH Ocean Mapping graduate program. A background in hydrography, seafloor mapping, or GIS is preferred, but is not required.

Please reach out to the incumbent officer, LT Kevin Tennyson (kevin.tennyson@noaa.gov), recent alumni (LT Airlie Pickett, airlie.pickett@noaa.gov, and LCDR Patrick Debroisse, patrick.j.debroisse@noaa.gov) or the Coast Survey Line Office Liaison Technical Assistant, CDR Bart Buesseler (bart.o.buesseler@noaa.gov), if you would like to learn more about this exciting opportunity.