vol. 4 no. 21 november 21, 2007 tips for sailors to ... · sailor’s record and identify ways to...

Vol. 4 No. 21 November 21, 2007

Tips for Sailors to increase advancement

U.S. Navy photo by AW2 Matthew Nikkel

From Navy Personnel Command Public Affairs

With advancement results re-leased Nov. 16, many Sailors are celebrating, while others look for steps to increase their opportuni-ties during the next advancement cycle.

“Superior performance is still the most important factor in get-ting advanced,” according to Vice Adm. J.C. Harvey, Chief of Naval Personnel (CNP). “The weight of the performance mark average from a Sailor’s evalua-tion promotion recommendation

U SU SU SU SU SU.S NNNNN. Navyavyavy hhhphph ph ttotootooto bbbbyby by AWAWAWAWAW AW2 M2 M2 M2 M2 M2 M ttttattattatthhhhewhewhew NiNiNiNiNi NikkkkkkkkekkekkelllllEN1 Brian Riley was one of six PMRF Sailors promoted in the most recent enlisted advancement cycle. Enlisted promotions from E4 - E6 are determined by a combination of factors including the Sailor’s individual performance evaluations, their scores on job-specifi c exams and their awards. The ratio between the factors’ importance for promotion recently changed to give more value to performance on the job.

has increased by seven percent. The weight of service-in-pay grade and pass-not-advanced points has decreased by approximately one-half,” Harvey said.

“It is extremely important for commanding offi cers, executive of-fi cers, and command master chiefs to communicate with those who did not get advanced this cycle,” Harvey added.

According to CNP, one thing the chain of command can do to assist Sailors not selected for advance-ment is schedule a career develop-ment board (CDB). A CDB provides personnel the opportunity to discuss

their career progression, the health of their rating, and their short and long-term goals for the future.

It allows a Sailor and his or her chain of command to review the Sailor’s record and identify ways to improve competitiveness in future advancement cycles.

According to the Navy’s Center for Career Development (CCD), located at Navy Personnel Com-mand, some questions a Sailor should ask during the board in-clude:

- What can I do to gain more PROMOTE, Contd. on Page 3

Commanding Offi cer’s Hot Line: Ext. 4435

Within Range is published bi-weekly by the Pacifi c Missile Range Facility Public Affairs Offi ce. Questions, concerns and comments can be directed to the Editor at [email protected]. All photos by MC1 Johnny Michael unless noted otherwise.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Commanding Offi cer: Capt. Aaron CudnohufskyCommand Master Chief: STSCM (SS) Ronnie Spake

Staff: MC1 (SW/AW) Johnny MichaelExecutive Offi cer: Cmdr. Bruce PeckEditor: Tom Clements

“What do you mean no one brought any coffee?” - Kauai’s westside Boy Scout Troop 203 spent a weekend at Anini beach with other Kauai troops and participated in a Camporee event featuring a variety of team-oriented games. Several PMRF fathers attended including Scoutmaster MA2 John Denos and as-sistants Capt. Aaron Cudnohufsky, Ens. Nathan Deunk, Charlie Fox and MC1 Johnny Michael.

You can call the Captain with your question/concern too. Dial Ext 4435 any time, seven days a week! The pur-pose of the hotline (record-a-phone) is to provide all PMRF military members, families, civil service and contractor employees the opportunity to communicate directly with the CO. Some suggestions are:

· Safety suggestions/violations/unsafe practices, ideas to improve safety and promote safety awareness.· Ways to improve morale, working or living conditions.· Suggestions on how to save taypayer dollars, cut costs, save energy, reduce labor manhours, etc.· Security violations and/or recommendations for strengthening physical security and safeguarding classifi ed

information.· Any positive things (events, programs, policies, benefi ts, etc.) that you feel are particularly good.· Any negative things you feel should have the CO’s attention.· Suggestions for improving disaster preparedness (tsunamis, hurricanes, fi res, etc.)You need not identify yourself to leave a message, but if you would like a staffed response, please do so. If

reporting a problem, please try to recommend a workable solution. Some of the questions or problems reported will be answered in the Within Range.

A good point of contact for issues involving Navy families is the PMRF Ombudsman, Becca Denos, who can be reached at [email protected].

PMRF

Snapshot

“What do you mean no one brought any coffee?” - Kauai’s westside Boy Scout Troop 203 spent


authority and responsibility in my current position to make me more competitive for the next higher pay grade?

- I passed but didn’t advance the last advancement exam, what changes can I make to improve my chances next time?

- In order to make me more competitive for advancement and to round out my rating expertise, what should my next assignment or duty station be?

- What can members of this board do to assist me both profes-sionally and personally in order to help me achieve success?

- What is the status of my rating? Advancement is extremely limited in overmanned rates and Sailors may want to consider a rating conversion to increase advancement opportuni-ties.

Every Sailor should have a men-tor and should also look for oppor-tunities to mentor other Sailors who can benefi t from their diverse ex-periences, according to Chief Navy Counselor (AW) Kelly L. Strickland, a career counselor at CCD. A mentor is a trusted counselor or guide who is looking out for the best interests of his or her Sailor. This includes advancement opportunities, but also includes helping the Sailor reach

other personal and professional goals.

“It is extremely important to have a mentor,” added Strickland. “It’s great to have that person in your career to receive information and points of view from.”

It’s never too early to start planning for the next advance-ment cycle.

“I suggest that Sailors who did not advance this cycle start studying again,” said Strickland. “You should also realize perfor-mance carries the most weight in advancement. Look at your last evaluation and improve in the areas you scored less in.”

PROMOTE, Contd. frm Page 1 Wh t i th tPROMOTE C td f P 1 t t f ti ? th l d f i lt t

PMRF participates in Veteran’s Day events

PMRF Sailors participated in two Veteran’s Day events this year, including a parade held in Kapaa and a memorial held at the Kauai Veteran’s cemetary in Hanapepe. (Above left) Spectators lined the streets of downtown Kapaa to witness the parade. (Above right) PMRF Commanding Offi cer, Capt. Aaron Cudnohufsky, Executive Offi cer, Cmdr. Bruce Peck and Command Master Chief STSCM (SS) Ronnie Spake rode a SEPTAR boat during the parade. (Below right) Spake and his wife Vanessa delivered a speech the following day at the memorial held in Hanapepe. (Below right) Flags were placed on each of the graves for the memorial.


Bravo Zulu! Excellence abounds at PMRF

(From left) PMRF Commanding Offi cer, Capt. Aaron Cudnohufsky, receives an award on behalf of PMRF for mission success during the recent Japanese Self Defense Force operation; Lt. Robert Gilbert received the Air Medal; Esther Estes received an on-the-spot cash award.

MA1 Patrick Walsh (Above left), MC1 Johnny Michael (Above right), MA2 Eric Munoz (Below left) and MA2 Jessica Boeckman (Below left) were frocked to the next highest pay grade during a recent award ceremony. AM3 Chris Bostwick (Not pictured) will be frocked following completion of the Petty Offi cer Indoctrination course. (Photos by AW2 Matt Nikkel)


Thank you to everyone who attended our Active Duty Military Roundtable last night. We got to meet our new MWR Director Craig Ulrich and hear about some great improvements that are in the works for the programs here. Patti Huber, the NEX Manager, was able to answer questions about the NEX and also enlighten us on current and upcoming events.

Since December is very busy, our next Roundtable will be postponed until January. Please mark your calendar for the 3rd Monday of each month for this gathering.

Upcoming events: Thanksgiving potluck on the berm for any of our active duty families or single sailors who don’t have plans already. Please RSVP with number attending and what you are bringing to Terisa Peck at [email protected]. Thanksgiving meal item donations for the Kauai Battered Women’s Shelter need to be delivered to the NEX gas station at 8:00 on Thursday morning. If you have questions feel free to call me. The Annual Military Christmas party will be held at Shenani-gan’s on Friday, Dec. 21.

Have a great Holiday weekend! Becca Denos PMRF Ombudsman [email protected]

Ombudsman’s Corner

Announcementsfrom the PMRF Public Af-fairs Offi ce. Look for more Domestic Harmony infor-mation in the near future.

Kekaha Town Cel-ebration

A two-day event aimed at bringing the Kekaha community together with music, food, crafts, sand sculpture exhibit, and star-gazing lecture from the Polynesian Voyag-ing Society. Through the Mayor ’s Ka Leo meet-ings, PMRF is included as the “Mana” portion of the Kekaha community, so organizers are hope-ful that we will join in with great numbers. Hours are 5-10 p.m. Nov. 30, and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Dec. 1, at the Kekaha Community Center and

Domestic Har-mony Erupting across Hawai’i Island and Neigh-bor Islands

“P lane tPuna, ” i s pleased to announce for the first time in the eight year history of the Domestic Harmony Awareness Initiative, proclamations have been secured f rom the mayors of Hawai’I, Maui, Kauai and O’ahu. They can be seen on www.planetpuna.com.

O r g a n i z e r S t a r Newland says, ‘We are developing an out-reach program around the theme of ‘domestic harmony erupting.’ We speak of eruptions of violence or war as in ‘more violence erupted

in this area today’. We want to encourage peo-ple to know that harmony can erupt too and they can reach out one to an-other to create more.

Officials from PMRF met Star Newland during EIS proceedings, and a partnership for Domestic Harmony was formed. ”When the United States Navy gets behind Domes-tic Harmony you know we are on to something” Newland said. “Our de-sire is to see programs made available across the Navy and other types of armed services to help those who serve our country.”

Neon green ribbons, representing ‘new life and new beginnings’ and as a symbol for domestic harmony, are available

across the street on the beach. Admission is free.

Also, there is still room for more craft booths and one food booth. Any organi-zation interested in hosting a booth can call Lyndon Yamane at 337-9286, or 635-5892.

PMRF Christmas Party

The annual Christ-mas party for active duty Navy and their dependents wi l be held at Shenanigans on December 21. The party will feature din-ner and door prizes. Look for details as the event draws closer!


Safety CornerThe Friday Funnies (a.k.a.) Summary of MishapsWarning Sign of a Bad M e e t i n g : S o m e b o d y Passes Out

1. Welcome to the latest edi t ion of the Fr iday Fun-nies. This week we exam-ine the design parameters of dune-buggy f lag poles, dangerous meetings, anger- management techniques, and whether it is possible to hold onto a wall.

A. Have you ever seen dune buggies racing around and wondered what those little flags on the top of those f l e x i b l e p o l e s w e r e f o r ? There’s an AM3 in California who can explain. She was roaring around somewhere in California. Topping a hill, she saw another dune buggy heading straight for her. In the best tradit ion of “After you, Alphonse,” she turned left and the other guy turned right. One head-on collision later, she found herself briefly airborne, rolling over twice, and then spinning around on all four wheels. During this spectacular display, she had broken her foot on the other buggy’s roll bar.

Here’s where we get to those f lag poles, because, according to the report, she “claims the flag poles should have been tal ler.” not that she shouldn’t have been rac-ing blindly up a hill. Rather, if there is a 20-foot hill, the other dune buggies ought to have 30-foot f lag poles on them, so you can see them

coming. I doubt the length of the flag pole is based on the size of the local dunes or

hills. If anyone knows better, let us know.

Our AM3 can provide a tes-timonial for the buggy’s safety harness, by the way. Without it, her week of LIMPDU might have been a month.

B. A GS-11 office worker in Cal i fornia went to a meet ing one morning. When it was over, the report says, he got up to leave and “lost his balance.” he banged his head on the deck and scraped his knee on the floor. The report doesn’t say what the precise physiologic cause was, but I can sympathize. I’ve been to some meetings where I felt l ike banging my head on the deck during them. The meetings usually took too long, and I felt myself getting woozy toward the end, too.

C. On a ship en route to a port of call, an E-7 was standing engineering-officer-of-the-watch during some drills. Things were not going well, for some unspeci-fied reason. Personally, I can’t think of anything that might go wrong during underway dri l ls on a ship, but something was amiss . Frust ra ted, our ch ie f progressed from concerned to peeved to annoyed and beyond. Wisps of steam were just begin-ning to seep from his ears when he slammed his hand down on the table in the central control station.

This got everyone’s attention, which might have been his goal, but he found himself unable to capitalize on this dramatic mo-ment, due to the fact that he had broken his hand.

Note to hand-slammers: This

technique is much more ef-fective when you don’t start hopping up and down and yelling, “Ouch!” afterward.

He was treated by the ship’s corpsman, and then, when the ship pulled into port the following day, he got to visit the local hospital instead of going on liberty. Three weeks of l ight duty and some anger-manage-ment classes ensued. Ev-eryone is always in a great mood when they show up for those.

D . Somewhere i n t he bowels of a Supply Center in the Pacific, a GS-7 sup-ply c lerk makes her way up a stairwell. She carries some classified paperwork and a record book in her left hand. According to the report, she is “holding on to the right side wall” with her right hand.

Not sure if you’ve ever tr ied holding onto a wall. Unless your n ickname is “Spidey,” it is easier said than done. Her nickname wasn’t . Direct ly, she was sprawling on the deck, scat-tering documents and bruis-ing her knees . She had “tripped over the safety slat at the top step,” she says.

If a so-called “safety slat” is installed so that someone can tr ip over i t , isn’ t the word “safety” a misnomer? Inqu i r i ng m inds wan t to know.

2. That’s all for now, ami-gos. Until we meet again, take care, take five minutes to read the instructions, and take a deep breath if you start feeling frustrated. See you next time.


Wish you were here - Photos from the Fleet

U.S. Navy Photo by MC2 Drae Parker(Above) ABF2 Marwin D. Aquino supervises fueling stations ensuring aircraft are fueled aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2). Essex is the lead ship of the only permanently forward-deployed U.S. Expeditionary Strike Group and serves as the fl agship for Commander, Task Force 76. (Below left) HM1 Sean Ehrsam, a medical laboratory technician aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), reads the Disney/Pixar book “Monsters, Inc.” to his 3-year old son George and 4-week old daughter Sasha. (Below right) Construction Mechanic 1st Class Jerry Jump, an individual augmentee Sailor attached to Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) Khost, secures the perimeter during a groundbreaking for one of more than 50 schools funded by PRT Khost this year.

U.S. Navy photo by MC1 William HambU.S. Navy photo by MC3 Patrick Grieco

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vol. 4 no. 21 november 21, 2007 tips for sailors to ... · sailor’s record and identify ways to...

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