LOCATIONS
JOB LOSSES AND STRIKES
08 Jan 07. PEO Ships Reassigned: DoD Source Admiral’s Office Denies Change. Rear Adm. Charles Hamilton, the Navy’s top ship development manager, is being reassigned, according to Pentagon sources, reportedly due to disagreements over the way ahead for the Navy’s open architecture systems approach and cost increases for the new Littoral Combat Ship. Hamilton, Program Executive Officer for Ships (PEO Ships) at the Naval Sea Systems Command, was told of the reassignment last week by Delores Etter, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, according to a Pentagon source. Hamilton will be reassigned to the Foreign Military Sales office within the Navy, the Pentagon source said, adding that the reassignment likely would take place in February. Roman Schweizer, public affairs assistant to Hamilton, denied Monday morning that Hamilton has been reassigned and said no change in leadership had been made at PEO Ships. (Source: Defense News)
Jan 07. The Bell Helicopter plant north of Montreal has been forced to reassign 24 employees to bring it in line with U.S. security measures. The factory is completing an $849m order for 368 Bell 407 helicopters commissioned by the U.S. Army. But security measures outlined in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations prevents citizens of some countries from being involved in the construction of American strategic military weapons. Bell Helicopter identified 24 employees at the Mirabel plant, many of them dual citizens, who are from the targeted countries. Bell Helicopter asked the U.S. Army for an exemption from the regulations, but was turned down. The Canadian company is a division of Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., based in Fort Worth, Tex., the world’s largest helicopter maker. (Source: Shephard)
PERSONNEL
MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT
11 Jan 007. DoD Announces Changes to Reserve Component Force Management Policy. The secretary of defense announced today a policy change in the way the department will manage reserve component forces. The first aspect of the policy change will involve the way the department manages deployments of reserve forces. Currently, reserve deployments are managed on an individual basis. In the future deployments will be managed on unit basis, allowing for greater unit cohesion and predictability for training and deployments. The second aspect of the policy change addresses the maximum mobilization time for members of the reserve forces. Currently, the policy is for a maximum mobilization time of 18 months. The department will reduce the maximum mobilization timeframe to one year.
Third, the policy objective for involuntary mobilization of Guard/ Reserve units will remain a one-year mobilized to five-year demobilized ratio. However, today’s global demands will require a number of selected Guard/ Reserve units to be remobilized sooner than the current policy goal. That deployment to demobilization ratio remains the goal of the department, as does the active component’s ratio goal of one year of deployment to two years at home station.
The fourth aspect of the policy change will establish a new program to compensate individuals in both active and reserve component forces that are required to mobilize or deploy earlier than established policy goals of deployment to home station ratio times. It will also involve those service members who are required to extend beyond established rotation policy goals.
The final aspect of the policy change will direct commands to review their administration of the hardship waiver program, to ensure that they have properly taken into account exceptional circumstances facing military families of deployed service members. These policy changes will better allow the department to posture itself for success in the uncertain environment in which it currently operates, and well into the future.
11 Jan 07 DoD. Announces Force Adjustments. As a result of the President’s Ir