source GAIA package: Sx_MilitaryTimes_M6201010010110320_5675.zip Origin key: Sx_MilitaryTimes_M6201010010110320 imported at Fri Jan 8 18:18:04 2016
Hospitalman Doyle Frisbee has a problem. And so far, he hasn't had any help.
He's one of at least 60,000 junior sailors who wasn't issued a Navy working uniform at boot camp and wasn't given a supersized clothing allowance to pay for it. It means he'll have to pay for some of his required items out of pocket. And he's angry.
"Every sailor in my situation around my command feels the same way I do," said Frisbee, stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C. "We cannot understand how the Navy expects junior sailors to pay out of pocket for uniforms they should have either issued us or given us compensation for, knowing we were coming in so close to the new rollout."
Frisbee is one of 87 sailors who contacted Navy Times in late August and early September, following the Navy's announcement that it would not increase the basic clothing replacement allowance for sailors who were issued the older utilities in boot camp while those in the fleet were getting a larger allowance to pay for the new blue cammies.
The mix-up affects sailors who began boot camp between Oct. 1, 2007, and April 26, 2009, which is the date utilities stopped being issued at boot camp.
Navy Times discovered the problem in late August. In response, personnel officials gave affected sailors two extra years — until Dec. 31, 2012 — to purchase all four sets of NWUs and their associated items. They have since lengthened that window to June 30, 2013, saying that the service's annual basic and standard clothing replacement allowances should take care of the purchase costs.
Those affected sailors still must own two sets of blue cammies — plus boots and the expensive parka and liner — by the end of this year. Sailors who didn't go through boot camp during the 2007-2009 timeframe still have until Dec. 31 of this year to have all required items.
But there may be more decisions to come.
"Navy is currently reviewing various options to ensure we minimize the financial impact on our sailors while complying with the Navy working uniform requirements," said Cmdr. Brenda Malone, spokeswoman for the chief of naval personnel. But as of right now, leadership is still refusing to give any extra money to these sailors beyond the annual replacement allowances.
But even with the new, later deadline, the affected sailors see an inequity. Most in the fleet got nearly $700 over two years — 2008 and 2009 — to defray the costs of buying four sets of uniforms, while they — nearly one in five sailors — must use existing and smaller replacement allowances for the purchases. It means they'll need to dig into their own pockets to make up the difference, which includes replacements for any of the other uniforms in the seabag, such as whites, blues, coveralls and the new black-and-tan service uniform.
That includes Frisbee, who entered Great Lakes in early 2009. He was issued utilities, not the NWU, and was also issued the Navy service uniform.
This past year, on the anniversary of his entry into the Navy, he got his first clothing replacement allowance of about $160.
"Knowing that [Jan.] 1 was the absolute deadline for having four NWU sets in my seabag, I began to ask questions," he said. After receiving no help from his command, he said, he finally called the 1-866-U-ASK-NPC help line for answers.
"The only advice they could give an E-3 with only a year in was, 'You need to budget your money to allow the purchasing of three more uniforms,'" Frisbee said. "I was stunned at the answer I got, because I could not understand why the Navy would issue me half of the new uniform rollout, then tell me I would need to buy these four NWUs out of my own pocket. I have a wife and a child — pre-Navy — and I was promised that the Navy would take care of its sailors."
Frisbee isn't the only one who sees a problem.
Joe Barnes, the national executive director of the Fleet Reserve Association, the longest-running advocacy group for enlisted members in all the sea services, said the Navy is falling short of its responsibility.
"There's an obvious disconnect between the two Navy policies regarding uniform allowances for junior enlisted sailors," said Barnes, who added that his organization would work to raise awareness of the issue on Capitol Hill.
"This is an equity issue, and given the new NWU seabag requirements, there should be consistent replacement allowances authorized and paid retroactively to enlisted personnel who started basic training between October 1, 2007, and April 27, 2009."
But Navy officials say they may not legally be able to pay these sailors any extra clothing replacement allowance. Navy Times asked for an explanation of this legal position, but the office of the chief of naval personnel did not provide a response by press time.
Another compensation expert said the Navy's position on retroactive payments isn't correct.
"I don't see anything that precludes them from doing it, as it would be the same thought process they did in providing it to the rest of the fleet over the two years," said Michael Hayden, deputy director of government relations at the Military Officers Association of America.
Hayden said the Navy's intent with providing plus-ups to the fleet was "actually a very good thing in theory, but by preventing some of the troops from getting the advantage of the full two years [of plus-ups], some sailors fell through the cracks."
"The Navy created an environment of haves and have nots in the fleet," Hayden added. "In order to make it right, anyone in the service who didn't receive an issue of the NWU should have received the same amount of plus-up in their clothing replacement allowances to cover the costs."
Big Navy's solution
Navy Times began asking the chief of naval personnel's office about the problem on Aug. 23. The Navy's initial solution, announced Aug. 27 in NAVADMIN 287/10, was to give these sailors an extra two years to comply. So they needed to have two sets by Dec. 31 of this year, and all four sets by Dec. 31, 2012.
One week after the NAVADMIN hit the streets, CNP's office approved a second NAVADMIN on Sept. 2, giving the affected sailors until June 30, 2013, to have all the required items. The requirement to have two NWU sets, boots, parka and liner by the end of this year went unchanged.
The new message also modified who's eligible for the extension. The first message stated that those who graduated between Oct. 1, 2007, and April 26, 2009, would get the extra time. But that end date excluded thousands who were wearing utilities when NWUs were issued to new recruits April 30, 2009, so the new message included those who commenced training between those dates, not graduated.
Extending the mandatory date gives sailors enough years of allowances to fill out their seabags, the message said. "This follows the latest date when all sailors in this category will have received four years of clothing replacement allowance," the message said. "Annual CRA provides for one set of NWU per year plus a percentage of the cost of procurement of the NWU footwear and outerwear, based on their applicable wear life."
The problem for many will be the parka and liner. It's a completely new seabag item and is required by the end of this year. Sailors will have to absorb the $301.69 for those items — along with the boots — and wait to be reimbursed over the four years of replacement allowances.
Federal law states that the military must either issue enlisted members their uniforms or pay them to purchase the items. The regulation does not address the circumstances these sailors face — having to purchase what amounts to a new initial issue of clothing.
Even among those who were shorted, there are varying degrees of inequity. A sailor who went to boot camp in January 2008, before the NWU was issued, would have gotten half of the 2009 basic allowance — $232.20 — in January 2009 for his first year's allowance, and then would have gotten $316.80 earlier this year — not the plussed-up version paid in the years before.
However, a sailor who entered boot camp in 2009 before the April NWU start date would have gotten even less — $158.40 — in his 2010 replacement allowance, half of the basic amount with no plus-up.
That money would be expected to cover any existing uniforms that needed replacement, along with the cost of the two sets of NWUs and the parka, liner and boots.
A little more than half of the affected sailors have also had to buy the new Navy service uniform out of pocket, as well. Issue of the E-6-and-below khaki shirt and black pants began in October 2008. That rollout was also delayed, but officials aren't saying by how long.
Two sets of the service uniform, including one garrison cap, runs $125.65 for men and $111.75 for women.
Officials have made no exception for affected sailors who were also not issued the NSU in boot camp. Every E-6 and below in the fleet was required to have two sets in their bag by July 31. Many who wrote to Navy Times have stated they bought only one.
