Good afternoon, NOAA Corps,
For as long as I can remember, I have been encouraged and/or required to make plans. In high school, my guidance counselor and parents advised me to figure out where I wanted to go to college and what I wanted to pursue as a major. I therefore planned to attend Virginia Tech and be a Civil Engineer. I then went to the Naval Academy and majored in Ocean Engineering, where I was encouraged by my service academy career counselors to plan my commissioned career as a member of the Navy's Civil Engineer Corps and be a SeaBee. Therefore, after receiving my commission in the Navy, I reported to the Navy Nuclear Power Training Command as part of a forthcoming submarine officer assignment. I later received advice from my Navy detailer to plan to become a Department Head on a ballistic missile submarine. That led to my leaving the Navy and a plan to follow the NOAA Corps recruiter's advice to be an operations officer on a habitat survey and diving ship in Hawaii (sun, surf, good times!). After receiving my NOAA Corps appointment, I then quite logically reported to an east coast hydrographic ship that operated out of Norfolk.
Thus, my theme for this week recalls Scottish poet Robert Burns who wrote (loosely translated), "The best laid plans of mice and men oft' go awry." No matter how meticulously crafted, our plans are subject to changing environments and needs (including those of the service), and therefore adaptation and re-evaluation are constantly needed. A NOAA Corps officer's career is filled with changing plans, but rather than seeing changes as failures or obstacles, I always try to see them as opportunities that make us more agile, resilient, and effective leaders.
In my Director of CPC role, I'm often solicited by officers for advice on how to plan for a successful career; and as a result of my life experience, I encourage them (and myself) to make a plan but also remain open and flexible to the idea (and reality) that plans are likely to change. Accordingly, I encourage us all to not be deterred in our lives and careers by unforeseen challenges or deviations from our initial course; adopt and maintain a one-step-at-a-time mindset, even when things "go awry"; and through adaptability successfully navigate complexities, seize emergent opportunities, and ultimately achieve our objectives.
And as always, please continue to take care of yourselves and each other.
Best Regards,
Captain Chris van Westendorp, NOAA
Director, Commissioned Personnel Center
P.S. We're just over two months away from the end of the fiscal year, so please plan your leave accordingly if you are able and haven't already!
| 06 Aug 2025 | Officer Assignment Board |
| 28 Aug 2025 | BOTC 147 Swearing In |
| 03 Sep 2025 | Command Advisory Board |
| LCDR Jamie Rosenberg | 01 Aug 2025 |
| LCDR Devin Schaefer | 08 Sep 2025 Terminal leave: 01 Jul 2025 |
| LCDR Bryan Brasher | 22 Sep 2025 |
BOTC 146 ensigns have commenced their post-graduation activities, with the aviators taking some much needed R&R before reporting to AOC, while the mariners conduct training at USMRC. There, the mariners have learned radar plotting (the classic way, by hand!) and have applied that in conjunction with parallel indexing to navigate various scenarios in the simulators. The simulators have also given the mariners a chance to practice making ship-to-ship calls (without AIS) and hands-on experience in bridge resource management. They were also able to visit NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow on Tuesday, giving them a taste of where they'll be headed after training. A special thank you to LT Timothy Montera and LT Andrew Fullerton for giving the mariner class a tour and answering all of their questions!
Noise is one of the most prevalent occupational hazards, making regular hearing tests or audiograms essential for early detection and management of potential hearing loss. The tests can also help determine the degree and type of hearing problems.
Maintaining a record of one’s baseline audiogram is critical for monitoring hearing health. A baseline audiogram refers to the initial audiogram or hearing test conducted upon entry into the NOAA Corps.
The NOAA Corps Medical Affairs Branch is currently distributing baseline audiograms to NOAA Corps officers, on the audiometric testing form (NOAA Form 57-10-07). A copy of the baseline audiogram will also be uploaded into each officer’s electronic health record ( MHS GENESIS).
It is imperative to retain this document in your personal medical records and present it during your annual hearing examinations. A comparison between current and baseline audiograms can be calculated, resulting in improved monitoring of any hearing changes.
If you have an upcoming hearing test and have not yet received your baseline audiogram (NOAA Form 57-10-07), please reach out to the NOAA Corps Medical Affairs Branch at noaacorps.medical@noaa.gov.
On September 30, 2024, the Special Leave Accrual (SLA) authorization of 2020 officially ended for NOAA Corps and restored the maximum annual carryover limit of earned leave for officers to 60 Days. Based on an end of third quarter leave balance report from the US Coast Guard Pay & Personnel Center, 116 officers (or 31% of the NOAA Corps) had accrued leave balances greater than 60 days, including 32 officers with more than 75 days. As a reminder, any accrued leave in excess of the authorized 60-day limit as of September 30, 2025, will not be carried over into fiscal year 2026, and will subsequently be lost.
Officers can view their leave balance on their Leave & Earnings Statement in Direct Access. All officers are strongly encouraged to work with their chains of command, actively plan, and use their leave throughout the year to the extent that they are able to do so. As always, accrued leave usage is subject to supervisory approval and mission requirements. Therefore, officers are also reminded that last-minute requests for excessive amounts of consecutive days may not necessarily be granted based on those requirements.