Thousands of medical billets will stay Navy

[unhappycamper]

Cmdr. Angela Powell, an otolaryngologist, performs surgery, assisted by Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Daniel Vogel, a surgical technician. A Navy plan to trim some 7,700 officer and enlisted medical billets has been halted.


Thousands of medical billets will stay Navy
By Chris Amos - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday May 4, 2008 11:36:00 EDT

Congress has ordered the Navy to abandon its plan to replace thousands of uniformed medical personnel with civilian federal government employees.

The service had intended to replace about 7,700 uniformed physicians, dentists, nurses and hospital corpsmen with government civil service workers and contractors between 2005 and 2013.

The conversions would have amounted to 28 percent of the Navy’s uniformed dentist billets; 18 percent of HM billets; 14 percent of uniformed Medical Service Corps billets, which include specialists such as occupational therapists and pharmacists; 6 percent of uniformed physician billets; and 4 percent of uniformed nursing billets.

The roughly 2,700 military billets that have been converted to civilian billets since 2005 will not be affected, said Cmdr. Tim Weber, director of manpower resources for Navy Surgeon General Vice Adm. Adam Robinson. That means 152 physician, 191 dentist, 99 nurse, 213 support officer and 2,011 corpsman billets will remain filled by civilians.

The Navy will continue to convert a limited number of unfilled positions that were ordered converted in fiscal 2005, 2006 and 2007, and plans for the 700 billets scheduled to be converted in fiscal 2013 remain up in the air because Congress’ order expires at the end of fiscal 2012.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/05/navy_medconvert_050408w/

[KSinTX]

1. Just another way to back-door these guys into combat

Yay Congress for stopping this madness. Just when you think it can't get any worse for these guys.