“This is a tool to help with the retention of people who are looking at a way to balance personal lives with getting the mission done,” said Katson.Īpplicants are asked what they will do on sabbatical but their plans aren’t screened for appropriateness. And Congress has extended the original three-year pilot authority by another three years through 2015. The Marine Corps, she said, is considering its own pilot. Katson said interest does appear to be climbing. For now they only are monitoring how the Navy program operates. Every service branch has legislative authority to try it. Only 19 enlisted sailors and 18 naval officers have participated since it began in 2009. It may be a harbinger of how any service career path can be made less rigid. Angela Katson, director of Navy’s office of diversity and inclusion, is program manager for the CIPP. The career intermission program, he said, “was the best way for me to go to Harvard now and earn a master’s degree, and be able to go back right into the SEAL Teams as soon as I am done here.”Ĭmdr. And Witt draws a stipend equal to one-fifteenth of monthly basic pay for his rank and years of service. They also are eligible to shop in base stores if any are nearby. ![]() Also, because of CIPP, he and his family keep their military health care coverage and the Navy paid to move them to Boston. Witt is using his Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, with its monthly stipend tied to local military housing allowances, to cover much of his education costs. Today, as a civilian, he is enrolled in a master’s degree program in public administration at Harvard University’s prestigious Kennedy School of Government. Learning about CIPP, he applied four months ago for one-year sabbatical. After recently completing an executive officer tour for a special warfare support unit in the Middle East, Witt said this an ideal time to leave active duty, spend quality time with family and also earn a graduate degree, a personal goal interrupted a decade ago when he became a SEAL. Witt’s goal is to command one of those teams, which would take him past the 20-year mark.īut Witt, 36, has a young family now, including two children under age four. He has been deployed for at least half of his 12-year career, which is no surprise given operational demands on SEAL teams since 9-11. Richard Witt, a special warfare officer, likes the idea. It’s called the Career Intermission Pilot Program (CIPP). The Navy has been experimenting with a more flexible career path for these service members, and perhaps for careerists in other branches of service as well. Other careerists, particularly those in high-tempo units or with high-demand skills, want to take a break and do something else, perhaps to have a child or finish that degree or just slow down their lives for a while.īut if they do, will they ever return and resume their careers? And how will that break in service impact opportunities for promotion or future assignments? From time to time, military members who plan to serve full careers are driven by unforeseen circumstances to leave active duty, perhaps to support the family business at a critical time or to care for an ailing parent.
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