Because we need new hats

...and new uniform items in general. Ladies, get ready for new combination covers.

http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=78424

Made some more changes

So I put the top ten posts of all time at the bottom of the page, and the top ten posts of the last 30 days in the right column. Hopefully it'll make the searches more profitable (meaning you find what you're looking for faster).

Does anyone reading this blog work at NPC?

If so, can you get the webmaster to remove Second Fleet as a link under the Major Staff Placement section?

http://www.public.navy.mil/BUPERS-NPC/OFFICER/DETAILING/MAJORSTAFF/Pages/default.aspx

Military One-Source reboot

It's been redone, hopefully making it easier to use. Check out the new Military One Source website here:

http://www.militaryonesource.mil/

Incoming personnel

I remember having to watch a movie called "The first 72 hours," which detailed a new sailor checking into a command, and how his chain of command basically blew him off, so that the only person that helped him was a stereotypical "bad" sailor. The movie was supposed to remind us (as future division officers) that we had to watch out and ensure that new sailors got checked in and had a good start on their jobs.

At a small command, this isn't too hard, since you normally know when you've got people coming in. When you get to a giant shore command of over 1000 people, this actually becomes a challenge. Big commands typically have a manpower manager, and you should know that person by name. It's best to do a monthly check with the manpower manager on the status of incoming personnel for your division. You might find some ugly surprises, such as:

- A sailor continues to be detailed to you, but isn't physically qualified to do the job
- A sailor fails out of an important school, but is still being sent to you
- A sailor has reported to your command, but is taking his/her sweet time checking in

Another benefit of knowing about personnel early is that often times they have gaps in their orders, where they will report TDY to a PSD. Typically, the command that they are at will use them to sweep floors and do other minor tasks, but if you ask, you can normally send them to school or have them complete some online courses. A great resource for this is the CETARS website, which has course availability at most Navy schoolhouses:

 https://main.prod.cetars.training.navy.mil/cetars/main.action?v_loc=home

(CAC enabled)

The earlier you know about a sailor coming to you, the more you can influence the process of them arriving, meaning you can wind up with a more qualified sailor and less issues to deal with early on.

Cold and calculating....like a psychopath?

Interesting article over at Scientific American comparing the minds of psychopaths to those of top political, military and scientific thinkers:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-psychopaths-teach-us-about-how-to-succeed

One begs the question...should our junior officers be screened for these kinds of traits? If we were to get into a real war, would we want the sort of person described in the article running our ships:

Or if you are a brilliant neurosurgeon, ruthlessly cool and focused under pressure, you might, like the man I'll call Dr. Geraghty, try your luck on a completely different playing field: at the remote outposts of 21st-century medicine, where risk blows in on 100-mile-per-hour winds and the oxygen of deliberation is thin. “I have no compassion for those whom I operate on,” he told me. “That is a luxury I simply cannot afford. In the theater I am reborn: as a cold, heartless machine, totally at one with scalpel, drill and saw. When you're cutting loose and cheating death high above the snowline of the brain, feelings aren't fit for purpose. Emotion is entropy—and seriously bad for business. I've hunted it down to extinction over the years.”

Right now, it seems that we want personable, "nice" officers that can get along with a variety of people and play nice with everyone else. But once bullets and missiles start flying, once sailors are getting killed, once we actually start losing ships to enemy fire...are these traits going to save us?

In the book One Hundred Days: The Memoirs of the Falklands Battle Group Commander, Admiral Woodward describes how the mood among his sailors completely changed after the HMS Sheffield was sunk by an Exocet missile. Before that happened, the sailors were overly confident of victory, took their time donning smoke hoods and safety gear, and in general were almost at ease. After the missile shot, everything took a determined stance, and a slow seething anger and gritty determination came over the crews, which would ultimately keep them focused and lead the British to victory.

The cold, calculating killing machine isn't just reserved for special forces and Marine infantry. During World War II, countless submarine captains were fired because they were not aggressive enough against the Japanese (recounted in this USNI article). We bemoan the fact that our leadership now seems more concerned with SAPR-L and IA training then warfighting skills and operations (the meme at the start of this article is only one of a hundred that can be found around the internet). Will we learn from history, or will we repeat it?

Iminent Danger Pay

The DoD, looking to save money, now makes you pro-rate Imminent Danger Pay. Of course, they don't make it easy by saying what you need to do, just that you need to pro-rate it.

If you happen to be in charge of people that go into an IDP area, here is what I recommend:

1. Look up the instruction on IDP. You can get it here: http://comptroller.defense.gov/fmr/07a/07a_10.pdf
2. See exactly what areas you are and are not eligible for. There always seems to be a lot of rumors about what you can and can't get. Just read the instruction.
3. Fill out a memo. You can use my example here: IDP Memo Example
4. Send the memo to your admin officer and get paid!

Don't let confusion on the rules screw you and your sailors out of the pay that they earned. Document it, get paid, and move on.

NATO, UN and campaign medals

I remember when I was on the submarine being told randomly one day that I was now eligible for the GWOT-E medal. Another year later, I tried to find it in my record...to no avail. Plus, I had no idea what actually made me eligible for the medal.

Well, if you think you have been somewhere long enough to get a campaign medal, check here:

http://prhome.defense.gov/RFM/MPP/OEPM/functions.aspx

Here you will find the awarding criteria for NATO, UN, Humanitarian Service, GWOT-E and GWOT-S, all of our other campaign medals, and even the National Defense Service Medal (lovingly called the McDonalds Ribbon by many). It's a good site to verify you are wearing the correct ribbons, so you don't wind up on the front of the Navy Times.

The ever useful Navy Achievement Medal

The Navy Achievement Medal is one of the greatest inventions in the Navy. Seriously. Look at all the positive things you can do with it:

- It can be given to anyone O-4 and below
- The awarding authority is the commanding officer, so in most places it is relatively easy to route
- Any command given NAMs don't require a full writeup, so they are quick to crank out
- For enlisted personnel, it gives you points towards advancement

Given all of these benefits, the NAM is a powerful spot award. Sadly, too many commands use it only as an end of tour, and don't reap the benefits of being able to hold up model sailors at an award ceremony.

One other great thing about the NAM is that you can submit it with a combat V device. The catch is: "Eligibility for the Combat Distinguishing Device shall be based solely on acts or services by individuals who are exposed to personal hazard due to direct hostile actions." Why this is great is that the future of combat is going to consist of a lot of small, fierce engagements, where you will have people that do great things while under fire, but not coming to the level of a Bronze or Silver Star because the engagement will be small in nature. The V device allows you to give them credit without having to try and justify a higher award. It also lets those who do dangerous work where you get shot at but don't necessarily return fire (such as ISR, scouting, or anti-piracy efforts) get credit for what they do.

So how do you write someone up? The great folks at navywriter.com have a whole host of articles on the NAM. Go here:

http://navywriter.com/navy-achievement-medal.htm

The actual 1650 awards form is located here:

http://www.navywriter.com/1650-3-PersonalAwards.doc

The two parts that get scrutiny is block 19 and the citation. You need to go to:

https://awards.navy.mil/

Then click on Personal Awards at the top, then Personal Award Query in the upper right. Enter in the persons information and click Search in the upper right. The proper Block 19 format will appear at the bottom.

As for the citations, you can get lots of samples here:

http://navyfitrep.com/nam.html
http://navywriter.com/navy-and-marine-corps-achievement-medal-citation-examples.htm

Remember, it's a Navy ACHIEVEMENT medal. The criteria is that the person did something above their paygrade or noteworthy that benefited the Navy. Use this tool to recognize your top achievers and get others to strive to be like them.

The importance of medals

Medals in the Navy has become a hot topic of late. One of the loudest arguments I hear is that we are becoming like the Air Force and giving medals away like candy, reducing their meaning. Other times I hear people shouldn't get medals for doing their jobs correctly, because that is why they get paid.

I can't obviously represent everyone's opinion here, and not being a Commanding Officer, I've not had the opportunity to really control the awards process. However, I want to make some points:

1. Medals are unique to the armed service. It's pretty hard to get medals that universally mean something to people in any other organization.
2. Medals are cheap. Let's be honest: it doesn't cost the government a whole lot to buy a medal and pin it on someone.
3. Medals can have a powerful impact on people. Not only does the recipient benefit by having it on his or her record, but the opportunity to hold up someone as a standard to measure other people's performance by in an organization is very powerful.

Awarding medals is one of many tools in a Navy leaders bag of management instruments. They should be used, purposefully, to identify top performers and set them apart from the mediocre or the "just getting by."

Right now, the issue we have is that awards are in most cases automatic, and are linked to paygrade and not performance. The only award I know of that has a rank restriction is the Navy and Marine Corp Achievement Medal (NAM), which requires you to be an O-4 or below.

So awards are important...but how do you increase your knowledge on them?

Go to the source: https://awards.navy.mil/
On the right hand side is a link to the Navy Awards Manual, currently SECNAVINST 1650.1H. Download this, and enjoy! It has an explanation of every award you can get in the Navy. There are also some links to the governing DoD instruction...which isn't too useful unless you start working for a non-Navy boss.

Personally, I'm not happy with how our awards process currently operates. Besides linking awards to rank, we use too few spot awards and too many end of tour awards. I have seen more than a dozen sailors get their end of tour from their last command well after they have arrived at their new command, and the awarding process at that point loses it power. And with the hesitation to use spot awards, our leaders are reduced to giving a big public "Thank You" instead, which while that may be appropriate in many cases, it falls too short in too many others.

If I had the opportunity, I would change spot awards by readily polling the senior enlisted and junior officers to look for and nominate sailors that should receive a spot NAM. The power that a spot NAM has on team morale, and when done right how it can inspire others to work harder, is too often missed.

For end of tour awards, my criteria would be:
- If you performed at a promotable status your whole tour (and not just based on your FITREP/EVAL, since those too often get inflated) and you haven't done anything to better the organization you are leaving behind, you get a handshake. Sorry. You didn't do anything wrong...but more importantly, you didn't do anything outstanding. You did enough to garner your paycheck. Sadly, this is probably 20-30% of people.

- If you actually made positive contributions and made the place around you better for the organization (and not just by filling a seat), then the award that is often considered a standard for your position is appropriate for your end of tour award. What I've currently seen is achievement medals for E1-E6/O1-O3, commendation medals for E7-8/O3-4, meritorious service medals for O5/E9, and legion of merit for O6.

- If you really performed well and significantly improved the workplace, you should be considered for a medal that is normally reserved for a higher rank. This would be only about 10% of folks, but it would serve to tag them as stellar performers, and allows them to stand out during the promotion process and other reviews by detailers, so that they can be our future leaders.

I'll post more functional guidance on how to actually submit awards later this week.

Get your nose into a book!

You should always be learning, and part of that involves reading. Whether it's a paperback or on your Kindle, reading helps stretch your mind and keep you sharp. In most of your jobs, you probably do a lot of mundane work that requires effort, but not a lot of critical thinking. Reading is a great way to challenge yourself and your beliefs. You always end up ahead if you read a good book.

The Navy has a reading list, published here:

http://www.navyreading.navy.mil/Navy-Reading.aspx

I've read quite a few of the books on this list, and I recommend you do as well. At some point I'll create a reading list on the blog, but for now, the Navy's list is a great place to start if you need something for that upcoming long flight.

DANTES

DANTES, Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support, has a lot of non-traditional training. Recently, they added a course for Online Academic Skills Course Administrator.

DANTES distance learning is located here:
http://www.dantes.doded.mil/Sub%20Pages/DL/DL_Main.html

Why you need to talk to your non-Navy neighbor

So here are some disturbing facts, if you happen to be in the Navy:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/148127/Americans-Army-Marines-Important-Defense.aspx

Although slightly dated, I doubt they have changed much.

I remember a few months back doing a community relations visit to a local public school. Being in the middle part of Georgia, people are used to seeing Army soldiers running around, but the Navy isn't exactly expected. I was walking one of the first graders down to the library when we had a little conversation:

First Grader: So, what do you do?
Me: Well, I used to work on a submarine and program missiles...
First Grader: That's really cool! I want to join the Army when I grow up. (I was in my blue Smurf camo, so I can understand the confusion)
Me: I'm actually in the Navy.
First Grader: Oh. Well, what's a Navy do?

We then actually had a fun conversation about how there are ships all throughout the world, watching bad guys and keeping them from coming to America.

Maybe some readers are thinking "Aww, isn't that cute." But I actually think if that kid remembered half of what I told him, he'd have a better idea of the importance of the Navy than many adults do. Every day, long before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Navy personnel were deploying and keeping the sea lanes safe. We can all recite countless examples of where we have personally done something to keep the world safe, but much of the American populace has no idea.

It is incumbent on us to let people know what we do. Every time I travel in the continental United States, I wear my dress blue uniform. Besides looking sharp and being comfortable (I had a tailor make mine out in Bahrain), it always sparks conversation, and gives me the opportunity to sell my service. I focus less on me and more on big-Navy stuff, and I find in general people are shocked at what we as a Navy continue to do day in and day out.

Although we may think it's cheesy, perhaps we ought to read the Day in the Navy page on occasion and spit out some of those bullets. What isn't impressive to us will surprise most people.

Sell your service, especially when you aren't near fleet concentration areas. Wear your uniform where it is appropriate, and have a positive message ready for the people you meet. People need to hear about what you do, because if you don't sell your service, who will?

A surprise email

So funny enough, after starting this blog and having the occasional rant about how commands don't give enough help when it comes to electronic records, I received a forwarded email today from our Captain:

IW Mustangs,
There is a new tool to help everyone in updating their Officer Record.
It is a Management Guide that is hanging on the NPC website at the following
link: http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/officer/Pages/default2.aspx

It is important to note what I, as the detailer, do and what the other PERS
codes do for your Officer Record. I only enter AQD's (BI1, etc) which then
show up on your OSR. This is extremely important because your OSR is what a
board member grading your record sees. I can enter an AQD with just a
scanned copy of the command letter authorizing the AQD. But, if you wish to
have a document (OOD U/W, SWO, IDWO Qual, Degree, etc) entered into your
"permanent officer record" (viewable in BOL), you, or your command admin,
needs to submit that document(s) to the appropriate PERS code for entry.
There are specific requirements to have these document(s) accepted and
entered. This Management Guide will help you in that regard.

I'm always happy to entertain questions on this, but please understand that
I can't circumvent the official process explained in the Guide.

Hope this helps.

The link is here:

http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/officer/Pages/default2.aspx

The document does a good job going through what should be where, and has a decent amount of useful links in it. While it doesn't cover the buttonology like the document I posted does, it is a great resource.

I doubt this has made it to the URL side, but hopefully posting it here will get it filtered over that way.

Picture Perfect

Need that perfect photo for a presentation you're giving? Try going to

http://www.defenseimagery.mil/

You can do a search for all kinds of shots. There is a lot here, so be sure to be specific with your search terms.

My current favorite: