Latest news with #DisabilityEvaluationSystem
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
New program gives nondeployable sailors more opportunities to serve
A recently announced Navy initiative will help expand work opportunities for sailors unable to deploy by placing them in shore billets that suit their unique expertise, according to a service administrative fact sheet released Monday. The EMPLOY program will place sailors who are dealing with injury or serious illness into positions that match their rank, and which would otherwise be gapped, a Navy spokesperson told Military Times. 'EMPLOY helps retain Sailors who desire to continue to serve, and also preserves valuable knowledge, skills, and experience needed to meet our warfighting mission,' the NAVADMIN said. EMPLOY was also created to reduce the administrative burden on the Disability Evaluation System, which determines whether a service member is eligible to return to duty, medically separate or medically retire due to a disability. A collaboration between Navy Personnel Command and the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, the voluntary program is open to active duty sailors and sailors in the Navy's Training and Administration of the Reserve program who are 'clinically stable and able to complete tasks associated with their rank/rate in a non-operational environment,' according to the Navy. 'This is about meeting the mission while also taking care of our people,' said Lt. Cmdr. Stuart Phillips, public affairs officer for Navy Personnel Command. How a sailor shortage is crippling ship maintenance at sea The program could apply, hypothetically, to a nondeployable sailor recovering from a musculoskeletal injury or one under observation after surviving cancer, Stuart said. Sailors will serve on EMPLOY tours for a minimum of 24 months and will be reevaluated during that time — no later than 15 months before their projected rotation date — for eligibility to return to full duty, another EMPLOY tour, referral to the disability system or separation from the service. Sailors assigned to career fields that require special duty screenings will need to complete the screening or de-screening process before being considered for EMPLOY. The EMPLOY process begins with military medical providers nominating a sailor for the program. The nomination will be considered for approval by a Medical Evaluation Board and convening authority. After, the sailor's command will fill out a candidate assessment form to evaluate the sailor. The Deployability Assessment and Assignment Branch (PERS-454) will then review the sailor's medical evaluation and candidate assessment form to determine EMPLOY eligibility. Detailers will work with sailors to negotiate their orders, or, if eligible, sailors may participate in the Senior Enlisted Marketplace, according to the admin message. EMPLOY sailors may be stationed at any Type 1 or Type 6 duty station. Type 1 duty stations include shore duty assignments in the U.S., including Hawaii and Anchorage, Alaska, where sailors aren't required to be away from their duty station more than 150 days per year or attend schooling for 18 months or more, according to the Navy. Type 6 duty stations include overseas shore duty assignments where sailors aren't required to be away from their duty station more than 150 days per year. Sailors approved for the program will have the opportunity to apply for cross-rating or redesignation if the new job requires it. Sailors without enough time left in their enlistment contract to complete an EMPLOY tour may also receive a conditional reenlistment contract. Phillips told Navy Times that the first iteration of the EMPLOY model was introduced during a phased roll-out last year, with the first sailor gaining approval for the program in May 2024. So far, 850 sailors have been considered for EMPLOY, which has retained 303 sailors. Twenty sailors are nominated for EMPLOY each week, Phillips said.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Sailors who can't deploy will be moved to empty jobs under Navy program
The Navy is implementing a program that will transfer non-deployable sailors to jobs that will keep them in the service long enough to return to duty rather than being separated on medical grounds. The new EMPLOY program will focus on sailor 'employability, not deployability,' by filling empty jobs with sailors who cannot deploy and reducing the number of sailors separated from the service through the Disability Evaluation System, according to a Naval admin notice posted Monday. 'EMPLOY accomplishes multiple important objectives for the Navy: we keep sailors on their career track by providing them with meaningful assignments that match their skills, we fill critical gapped billets ashore, and as an organization we retain the valuable knowledge, skills and experience these sailors possess,' Navy spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Stuart Phillips told Task & Purpose. 'Everyone wins.' The EMPLOY program is designed to place sailors into already-funded billets that would otherwise remain vacant. These assignments last for at least 24 months and include non-deployable, land-based jobs. The Navy released formal instructions for the program this week but began a 'phased roll-out of the EMPLOY model last year,' to evaluate the program's effectiveness, Phillips said. In May 2024, the first sailor was approved for an EMPLOY program tour. To date, 850 Sailors have been considered for EMPLOY with 303 selected so far. An average of 20 sailors are nominated each week, according to Phillips. The program is designed to retain sailors who are non-deployable due to injuries or illnesses, but who are expected to eventually return to duty. Sailors who are 'medically incapable of continued service' are not eligible for the program, according to a Navy factsheet. For example, sailors recovering from a musculoskeletal injury that will eventually heal, or who are undergoing treatment for cancer, could be eligible for the EMPLOY program, Phillips said. The program could also be for sailors taking certain medications that make them non-deployable. Phillips gave the example of anticoagulant medications that prevent fatal blood clots but also increase the risk of uncontrolled bleeding 'which is even more dangerous on a deployed warship.' 'While sailors in these situations may not be suitable for a sea duty tour, they can continue to contribute from a shore billet,' Phillips said. EMPLOY is open to sailors on active duty and those in the Navy's Training and Administration of the Reserve program, in which Reserve officers are put on active duty to manage and train the service's Reserve Component. Sailors in specialized career fields that require special duty screenings, like submarine duty, will have to complete a screening and de-screening process before they can be considered for EMPLOY. The process begins with a sailor's medical provider, who nominates the sailor for the program. Their case is reviewed by officials, including a Medical Evaluation Board. Sailors can work with detailers to negotiate their current orders or they can look for new opportunities through the Senior Enlisted Marketplace. The jobs sailors can hold in the program include Type 1 and Type 6 duty stations. Type 1 stations are shore assignments at bases in the continental U.S., Hawaii and Alaska. Sailors are limited from leaving their station for more than 150 days per year, or attending schools that last 18 months or more. Type 6 duty stations are overseas and have similar limits for sailors not to be absent from their offices for more than 150 days each year. Examples of Type 6 can include overseas stations, like Naval Base Sigonella, Italy and some more-remote locations in the U.S., like Naval Air Station Key West, Florida. Sailors may be cross-rated or redesignated into a new career field if the new job requires it. They may also be issued a conditional enlistment contract if they don't have enough time left in their current one. The NAVADMIN recommends that they consult with career counselors on how these temporary jobs could affect future Navy opportunities within their job field or other non-traditional roles. However, sailors in the program are still eligible for promotion. The Navy has faced similar recruiting challenges to other services in recent years but changes to how it recruits new sailors and a revamp of its medical waiver process have led to improvements. In February, the service announced in a post on X that it was on track to meet its highest recruiting goal in over 20 years with more than 14,000 future sailors joining in the first four months of fiscal year 2025. In September 2023, the Government Accountability Office found that the Navy didn't have enough enlisted sailors to man its aircraft carriers, other surface ships, and attack submarines. As of November 2023, the Navy had 70,705 enlisted sailors, 16% fewer than the necessary 84,379 sailor billets. Sailors will be re-evaluated during their EMPLOY rotation and assessed as either fit for return to duty, a new EMPLOY assignment or referred to the disability system, or separated from the service. The Navy does not have any specific limits on how long a sailor could remain in the EMPLOY program. A Marine Corps reply-all email apocalypse has an incredible real-life ending Army shuts down its sole active-duty information operations command Army plans to close more than 20 base museums in major reduction Former Green Beret nominated to top Pentagon position to oversee special ops The Navy's new recruiting commercial puts the 'dirt wars' in the past
