Good afternoon, NOAA Corps,
2024 AOC Safety Summit Wardroom Photo Credit: Thomas Iddings |
2024 Marine Operations Leadership Summit Wardroom Photo Credit: Brandon Baylor |
Over the last two weeks, CPC has directly engaged with much of the NOAA Corps workforce. Participating in both the AOC Safety Summit and Marine Operations Leadership Summit (pictures above), we've been able to visit with over a third of our customers, share some successes of the last year, and offer further glimpses into upcoming 2025 projects and initiatives. We've received questions and feedback on everything from implementation of a 3rd annual Basic Officer Training Class and the new victim advocate language in the Directives (Chapter 13); to potential retention incentives, goals and methods of the comprehensive billet review, and possibilities for housing identification assistance and allowances, among many other topics of interest. But the most valuable aspect of being at these mass gatherings has been the impromptu discussions that naturally spring up when NOAA Corps officers, who are normally hundreds and thousands of miles apart, come together and share their stories, challenges, lessons, and successes; the culmination of a year's worth of hard work and celebration of our achievements.
For me, this end-of-year travel has been particularly rewarding, as I was both able to engage with active duty members across the country, as well as join RADM Cary, RDML Goeller, and several other fellow OMAO leaders in a surprise visit to honor a NOAA Corps centenarian, CAPT (ret.) Leonard (Sam) Baker, at his home in Arizona. Truly one of our finest examples of uniformed service, CAPT Baker shared several entertaining and harrowing stories with us from his time in the Marine Corps, his early years in the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey Corps, and his mid- to late-career in the NOAA Corps. A trailblazer in many regards, he contributed significantly to the advancement of science and mapping, support for career advancement, and promotion of equality in development and leadership opportunities for all, regardless of origins or protected class. A continuing force to be reckoned with, he is most passionate about the importance of children's literacy, and is noted fondly and admired by his neighbors as remaining highly active, "running around" their community. We thank and celebrate those who have served before us, and aspire to be agents of change as CAPT Baker has been and encourages us to continue to be.
We at CPC will be taking a Cyberflash cycle off as we approach the upcoming holidays. We wish you all a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season, and happy New Year!
With Much Gratitude,
Captain Chris van Westendorp, NOAA
Director, Commissioned Personnel Center
| 18 Dec 2024 | CPC Webinar - End of Year (EOY) Packages) |
| 08 Jan 2025 | Ops Working Group |
| CAPT Daniel Simon | 01 Jan 2025 Terminal leave: 25 Oct 2024 |
| LTJG Kyle Vincent | 02 Jan 2025 |
| LCDR Steven Solari | 01 Feb 2025 |
| CDR Stephen Kuzirian | 01 Mar 2025 |
| LCDR Bryan Brasher | 19 Mar 2025 |
| LT Matthew Sharr | 31 Mar 2025 |
All active duty NOAA Corps officers are cordially invited to join CPC on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, at 12pm EST for a one-hour webinar discussion on End of Year (EOY) Packages with OCMD and OPMD. This annual requirement involves numerous checks and verifications of officer files and entitlements, and attendance is strongly encouraged. Please use this linked Google Doc to ask any questions you may have, and they will be addressed during the course of the webinar. This webinar will be recorded and stored on the CPC Intranet website for future viewing - details regarding consent to recording are in the calendar invitation.
The Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) is seeking presentations for the May 2025 Joint Engineer Training Conference (May 13-15)! The deadline for abstract submission is January 8. Sessions are one hour each and can be a single presenter or a panel format. Presentations on unique research, case studies, and projects are encouraged and are open to civilian and uniformed personnel. Application instructions are located on the JETC website here. Possible topics are diverse and range from advanced technologies, coastal hazards, data tools, leadership, to facility and asset management. For more information and if you plan to submit an abstract, contact the NOAA Corps SAME Service Liaison, LT Alice Beittel at alice.beittel@noaa.gov
In the Secretary of Defense's memo titled Our Enduring Duty to America’s Service Members and Their Families, guidance was provided to increase authorized Temporary Lodging Expense (TLE) from 14 to 21 days under certain circumstances. A Service member may be authorized TLE for either 7 or 21 days, depending on whether the new Permanent Duty Station (PDS) location is in the CONUS. The days may be split between multiple authorized locations and at the Service member’s or dependent’s discretion.
This information may also be found in the most recent version of the JTR located on the Defense Travel Management Office website linked here.
For any questions, please contact Jerrard Baker at (301) 713-7728 or jerrard.baker@noaa.gov
This is your last chance to update your records for the 2025 tax season! The Pay & Personnel Center will mail 1099Rs to all retirees and annuitants in January 2025 and any updates to your account will need to be made by 17 December 2024. Direct Access (DA) will be unavailable for all users from December 18th, 2024, to January 3rd, 2025, due to scheduled maintenance. Direct Access is scheduled to be operational for all users on January 3rd, 2025, at 06:00 EDT.
It is imperative that your mailing address is current in DA and it can be updated by visiting Self-Service at Retired Direct Access Global Pay Self Service (“Update Contact Information”). If your 1099R is sent to an old address, a replacement copy will only be available by electronic means. Of course, the fastest and most reliable way to obtain your 1099R is by downloading it yourself via Self-Service in DA.
Your attention and quick action to verify and update mailing information is greatly appreciated!
Happy Holidays from the Medical Affairs Branch! Now is a great time to verify that your medical readiness is current. Please reach out to us with any questions or concerns at noaacorps.medical@noaa.gov.
We would also like to remind you that information on the Medical Affairs Branch tab on the NOAA Corps CPC Internet site has moved to the CPC Intranet Site. All current medical readiness forms are available on the CPC intranet site under “Medical Readiness Requirements”.
We have also recently released a new tab “Medical PCS Guide” that includes some useful medical information when moving. We want to thank each of you for your feedback.
We are looking forward to working with and supporting each of you in the upcoming new year!
Many thanks for everyone's patience as we work through updates to the OER Submittal process. Phase One is now complete and CPC has made the final transition. The Smartsheet method for submitting OERs to CPC has been disabled and the OER status page has been closed. Officers are now responsible for submitting their own fully completed OERs to CPC via their OPF page in the OER tab. Rating chains are no longer involved in submitting OERs.
Guidance on the proper submittal method can be found on CPC's OER intranet page. Officers are encouraged to read through the guidance to ensure proper entries. Questions on the new process should be directed to the Chief of Officer Career Management Division.