Recently I advertised the USUHS Commandant position. A reader asked: Any thoughts on whether you think this is a position that would make an O5 competitive for O6? This is a common issue. A position is advertised, but you want to know if it will help get your promoted to O5 or O6 if you […]

If you are particularly interested in this post, I’m sorry. You or someone you care about probably failed to promote. In reality, nowadays it is normal and expected to fail to promote to O5 and O6, so you have company. Here are my suggestions for those that fail to promote. First, try to figure out […]

Whenever a promotion board starts, the members are provided two items to guide them as they decide who to promote, the board precept and the convening order. These documents are available on-line and should be used to figure out how to promote and write your fitrep.   The Board Precept The precept is released in […]

O5 fitreps are due soon, so it is time for me to write my fitrep. How do I do it? Here are the steps I go through: I get the Surgeon General’s priorities and the convening order for last year’s O6 board. (If you were an O4, you’d want the O5 convening order. If you […]

The standard advice has always gone something like this: “If you are above zone, you need to send a letter to the promotion board so that they know you are still trying to promote. Otherwise they won’t pick you.” Now that they no longer stamp officer records with “AZ” (above zone) and they look exactly […]

During the last Specialty Leader Business Meeting, the Detailing Update mentioned that there were about 10 cases of officers who lost their promotion due to a security clearance issue. As a result, I added a new section to the Promo Prep document. In it you can find out how to check your security clearance. Here’s […]

A reader recently asked me for help preparing for a big interview that I had done in the past (the interview to become a Specialty Leader). We both thought that interview prep would be a good blog post, so here is my advice after 10+ interviews for significant leadership positions: Be prepared for an in-depth […]

(Here is a pdf of this article, one of my personal finance columns I write for a national Emergency Medicine newsletter.  Find more of them here.) I cut a check and paid off my mortgage in February, making me debt-free.  It cut my living expenses by about a third and ensured that in four years, […]

BLUF – If you are hoping to retire but are not willing to serve 3 years as a Commander or Captain, you should decline the promotion.  (This is not applicable if you are resigning.  Only if you are hoping to retire.) The policy regarding promotions and retirements is governed by OPNAVINST 1811.3A.  If you are lucky enough to […]

Here is an audio podcast of a 30 minute lecture I gave at Naval Medical Center San Diego’s Transition to Practice Symposium that they put on last week for all the graduating residents and fellows.  I hope you enjoy it.

Recently Navy Personnel Command (PERS) has started enforcing some policies that had largely been ignored, and I’ve heard a few horror stories from people trying to resign from the Navy.  With that in mind, here is how you can resign without encountering problems.  Assuming that you’ve already decided to resign, here are the steps you […]

Thousands of times a year Navy physicians struggle to do something that no one really ever teaches them how to do…write their fitrep.  I have read the Navy fitrep instruction, taken guidance I’ve received from senior Navy leaders and classes I’ve attended, and consolidated it into one document that you can read from start to […]

The Graduate Medical Education Selection Board (GMESB) results were released last month with a 30 DEC deadline to accept or decline any spots you were offered.  Undoubtedly there were some people who didn’t get what they want. I’ve participated in the last three GMESBs and would like to offer tips for people looking to match […]

This post will help you learn all that you can about deployments.  Personally, I’ve done three deployments, one as a GMO during the initial invasion of Iraq, and two after residency.  In 2010 I deployed with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit or MEU and earlier this year I deployed to GTMO.  In addition, as both […]

There has been a lot of recent activity surrounding the new Blended Retirement System (BRS), and I don’t intend to reinvent the wheel and explain the whole system to you when there are some nice resources that already exist: DoD BRS 1 Page PDF Summary BRS NAVADMIN DoD BRS Article and Video Military OneSource BRS […]

One of the most important markers of a good fitrep is that your trait average is above your reporting senior’s trait average.  Since most officers initially write their own fitrep and create their own trait average on the first draft, it is important to find out your reporting senior’s trait average so that you can try […]

LCDRs all over Navy Medicine are busily writing their fitreps, so I wanted to offer some assistance.  Keep in mind that when you write your block 41, the narrative portion of your fitrep, you are writing it for the promotion board.  Many LCDRs struggle to find the right words to express all the things they’ve […]

We are all required to get continuing medical education or CME.  Just as important, however, is continuing financial education (CFE).  I’m as busy as the next guy, but I am able to stay reasonably up to date on all aspects of personal finance that are relevant to my situation.  Thanks to podcasts, blogs, RSS readers, Facebook, […]

Here is a PDF of the FY17 Medical Corps LCDR promotion board statistics, summarized here: Above Zone – 3 of 7 eligible officers selected – 43% selection rate In Zone – 219 of 249 eligible officers selected – 88% selection rate Below Zone – 24 of 503 eligible officers selected – 5% OVERALL – 246 […]

Yesterday an officer e-mailed me and asked for tips on improving his concurrent FITREP, which I thought would make a nice blog post. A concurrent FITREP is most often received when you are deployed.  It is “concurrent” because not only are you getting a FITREP from your deployed command/unit, but you are also getting one […]