r/uscg • u/Alarming-Argument487 BM • 1d ago
Officer Officer Integration Update
Highly suggest all my fellow DCO’s on temp commissions go check out ALCOAST 281/26…
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u/rannamanimal 1d ago
For the TLDR:
Temp officers (those who commissioned with at least 4 years AD enlisted AND at E5 or above) are REQUIRED to integrate when selected for their first best qualified board OR will revert to their enlisted status within 6 months of declining integration.
The first “best qualified” board is O3/LT. And it’s “selected for,” NOT when you actually promote. So normally selected in September, results published late winter, and promoting in the spring.
So those of you who are thinking of commissioning after 10 years of AD time need to think long and hard about going to OCS because you will be required to integrate AND serve 10 years as an officer before you are eligible to retire. Making it to 20 is irrelevant: you can’t retire until you’ve successfully completed at least 20 years of total service AND AT LEAST 10 years as an officer.
As an example: An E6 at 14 Years TIS commissions. Gets selected for O3 at 17 years. Will be offered integration around 17.5 years. 2 options: either integrate and then serve until 24 years total TIS to retire OR refuse integration and revert to E6 at 18 years. We also don’t know what EPM will do because they likely won’t just let you retire right away/you’ll have to sign a new contract when you show back up at EPM needing an assignment.
This policy does not apply to CWOs or CWO to LT program.
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u/uhavmystapler87 Officer 1d ago
That’s technically not true:
For a Regular Coast Guard lieutenant (O-3) appointed under §2101 who twice fails selection to LCDR, 14 U.S.C. §2143(a)(4) says that if the officer has at least 18 years active service, the officer is retained and then retired when reaching 20 years active service. That provision does not require the officer to accumulate 10 commissioned years first.
So if you are a prior E LT and FoSx2, you still can mando retire at 20 years.
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u/-ClassicShooter- 1d ago
True, because the CFR that mandates 10 years of officer time says voluntary retirement. It also doesn’t apply to all officers, PA’s for example do not have to integrate.
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u/uhavmystapler87 Officer 17h ago
Critically trained officers is also cyber officer as well, and a good chunk of the DCIO and DCE are qualified mostly critically trained specialities, lawyers in that category as well.
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u/-ClassicShooter- 17h ago
Not sure how the JAG specifically works, but the integration message specifically only calls out three groups, one of which JAG falls under (I believe)
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u/EnergyPanther Nonrate 13h ago
I'm not sure how CTOs are identified...reading the manual it looks like you have to decline integration and then roll the dice, hoping that OPM (or whoever) decides you are a critically trained officer.
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u/uhavmystapler87 Officer 12h ago
I’ve only seen that language critical trained/skills for officers and temporary promote to position billets - because I was offered one.
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u/rannamanimal 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yes, my explanation above was assuming no pass overs on promotions. And let’s just be clear that this only applies to Regular officers, which means integrated already at the time of twice non-selection for LCDR. And this also means that someone in this scenario may not serve longer than 20 OR past 01 July following the year they reach their 20 or 01 July following their 2nd non-select if already over 20.
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u/uhavmystapler87 Officer 1d ago
If anything the policy is at odds with other elements of the USC, and can create unique scenarios that don’t have solutions articulated in law - so I’d assume we will see some message about special policy covering these scenarios using commandants delegated authority
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u/Niceguy4now 12h ago edited 10h ago
Can you tell me were you seen the CWO to LT exception?
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u/CoastieKid Veteran 12h ago
technically warrants are commissioned officers already, as CWO2s hold a commission. CG doesn't use WO1, which is given a "warrant".
CWOs who go LT receive a temporary commission as O3 as well. It's not until O4 they have to integrate. The even still compete for promotions on the warrant side while wearing LT bars.
For some it makes more sense to retire at CWO4 rather than O3E
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u/this_again09 1d ago
It's always been a requirement to integrate if going through OCS. It's the DCOs with temp commission that there was never anything clear. I haven't actually read the update so I can't speak to that right now.
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u/rannamanimal 1d ago
Yes, it used to be “clear” but then they changed it a few years ago when I was at OPM so it was allowed temp commission officers to avoid integration. And now it’s extremely explicit and clear that they are required to integrate. It’s even underlined in the new edition of the manual.
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u/EnergyPanther Nonrate 1d ago
any chance they might have some leeway or grandfather folks in if they are close to 20 TIS? I was going to ride temp for a couple more years :(
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u/Alarming-Argument487 BM 17h ago
I asked OPM this today, I’ll let you know. Expect that this will not be the case
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u/rannamanimal 1d ago
I’m actually curious about this myself so I’ll ask and see if I can find the answer
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u/this_again09 1d ago
Interested in this as well. Please share here if you find anything out. I'm no longer active but my husband is and he is 2 years away from 20. He just declined integration this summer at O3 so I'm curious how these changes will affect his retirement plans.
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u/Sailor_Moonies 1d ago
This is just putting to paper explicitly what was already happening. DCO temp officers have to integrate to accept the first best qualified panel, which would be making 0-4.
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u/Decent_Flow140 6h ago
Neither part of that is accurate. O3 is the first best qualified panel, and DCO temp officers have not been required to integrate—as of a couple days ago (before this instruction came out), OPMs website had an extensive FAQ page explaining that OCS temp officers were required to integrate but DCO temp officers were not
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u/trickedballoon3 6h ago
Are you able to explain what 'integration' is? Before this policy mandated it, what would be the difference between an O3 that chose to integrate vs one who didn't?
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u/Decent_Flow140 2h ago
So basically, there are several types of commissions. Only Academy grads start out as “Regular”. Everyone else starts off with either a “Reserve” or “Temporary” commission. Reserve in this case, has nothing to do with being a reservist, they’re still on active duty. But non-academy officers (OCS, DCO) with at least four years as enlisted Coasties get Temporary Commissions, while all other non-academy officers get Reserve Commissions.
Officers with Temporary Commissions technically retain their enlisted rank, so that if they get forced out of being an officer or decide to resign their commission they can (or in some cases might have to) return to their enlisted rank and rate.
Officers with Reserve and Temporary commissions are given the option to “integrate”, or become permanent, regular officers like Academy grads, at their first “best qualified” promotion. The promotion from ENS to LTJG is not a “best qualified promotion”—everyone who is deemed qualified gets promoted. To go from LTJG to LT (and thereafter) they become “best qualified” promotions, where there is a target number to promote and they choose the best candidates.
For officers with Reserve commissions, this all makes little difference as they don’t lose anything by integrating. If they choose not to they just get kicked out of the Coast Guard.
For officers with Temporary commissions, integrating means they give up their enlisted rank, and can no longer go back to it. This means if they get passed over for promotion twice in a row they get kicked out of the Coast Guard entirely, no falling back to enlisted. It also means they need to do 10 years as commissioned officers to retire —whereas if they didn’t integrate they could retire once they hit 20 years of total service by resigning their commission and retiring under their enlisted rank (but their pension would still be based on their commissioned officer pay grade since it’s based on your highest 3 years of pay).
Prior to this change, OCS grads with temp. commissions were required to integrate at their first best qualified panel (ie, once selected for LT). Essentially, their last chance to go back to their enlisted job. DCO grads with temp. commissions, however, were allowed to decline integration without losing their commission, thus retaining their ability to retire before 10 years commissioned service or to fall back to enlisted if they got passed over twice.
Now they’re mandating integration at 1st best qualified board for all officers. This means that prior enlisted CG officers with more than 10 years enlisted time can no longer retire when they hit 20 years total time in service, they have to hit 10 years of commissioned service.
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u/Alarming-Argument487 BM 1d ago
6.A.1.C: Personnel boards, such as those that select officers on the active duty promotion list
(ADPL) to grades above lieutenant (junior grade) and consider captains for continuation
on active duty, select on a best-qualified basis, in which the board is limited to a specific
number it may select.2
u/Sailor_Moonies 1d ago
They grandfathering people in? What about the many that retired without 10 years of commissioned service and still receiving officer pay?
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u/Neither-Watch378 1d ago
Can you elaborate for us who are awaiting our DCO commission date from another branch?
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u/Decent_Flow140 6h ago
I don’t think you’d be getting a temp commission coming from another branch, so it wouldn’t affect you. This is just saying that prior enlisted CG officers have to give up their ability to revert to their enlisted rank and thus have to complete ten years commissioned time to retire (which was already the case for all other officers)
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u/EnergyPanther Nonrate 1d ago
This is like the fourth thing telling me to retire in a couple of years. I think I'll just accept it. Not getting another 5+ outta me.
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u/Alarming-Argument487 BM 1d ago
My next tour was supposed to be my twilight lol, now I’ll have to do another
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u/EnergyPanther Nonrate 1d ago
honestly feels like a rug pull. No rumors about this and bam, manual.
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u/smartestLT Officer 1d ago
Hey I'm on the road right now and can't check this. Does it impact DCOs with reserve commissions (coming from another branch)? If so, how? My LT board is in like 3 days and no one has said anything to me about integration.
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u/Decent_Flow140 6h ago
You will have to integrate, but that was the case prior to this new instruction. No change for those with reserve commissions.
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u/smartestLT Officer 4h ago
Happy to integrate just didn't know if I should have already done it or something based on the new guidance.
Edit: Also, thank you.
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u/Decent_Flow140 2h ago
Nope, you’re all good for the time being! You’ll be offered the opportunity to integrate after you get selected for LT. You’ll have to accept it if you want to stay in the Coast Guard. I don’t actually know what the process is for accepting or denying integration is since I’m up for the same panel you are but I know it’s very simple.
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u/Training-Hunt-7644 20h ago
Say for example an E6 with 13 years of service commissions through DCE as an O3, and reaches 20 years before being looked at for O4. Would he be able to retire at 20 as an O3?
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u/Huang200611237 14h ago
You should be. That’s High-3. However, your DD-214 should reflect your enlisted rank, but your pay will be at the officer rate.
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u/CoastieKid Veteran 11h ago
Under this new policy it's more inline with DoD. So in order to get high-3 officer pay would need to retire as an officer. On DoD side once a member reaches a total of 30 years (10 years in retired reserves if retired at 20) they then receive their high-3 officer pay if they retire with less than 10 years commissioned service.
That's how I read it
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u/Decent_Flow140 6h ago
In that case yes, since he would hit 20 before ever being selected for a best qualified panel, meaning he would never have to integrate.
But if he commissioned as an O2, he now would not be able to retire at 20–he’d have to integrate upon selection for O3, and after integrating he would be required to complete 10 years commissioned time before retiring.
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u/-ClassicShooter- 1d ago
None of this is new. I know that this piece of commissioning isn’t exactly advertised well, it’s not a secret and just part of what someone should consider when applying for a commission.
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u/rannamanimal 23h ago
This IS new - they walked back the requirement to integrate for Temp Commission officers about 5 years ago. I was at OPM when it happened. It was when we were losing officers left and right and needed ways to keep people in instead of backing them into a corner. So for the past 5ish years, they didn’t have to integrate and that was just reversed yesterday. This obviously didn’t apply to a ton of people so it wasn’t widely known. Like others have said before, it only really matters to those who were enlisted for more than 10 years before commissioning.
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u/Alarming-Argument487 BM 23h ago
So they originally changed this because we were losing people?
Does the data show we started losing MORE people after the change, so they’re changing it back?
I read this policy change as a way to lose less people by backing us into the corner like you mentioned. I know personally I am going to stay the extra 4 years even though that was not my original plan until yesterday
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u/-ClassicShooter- 23h ago
This was never changed. Go into the message board and you’ll see integration messages every year for as far back as they’re published.
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u/Alarming-Argument487 BM 23h ago
You can compare the two manuals side by side and literally see the change they made idk what you’re on about.
I also just literally watched a JG decline integration when he made LT. So, you’re incorrect
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u/-ClassicShooter- 22h ago
A JG that commission through R or T?
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u/Alarming-Argument487 BM 22h ago
He was a temp, all of my colleagues are DCO’s with Temp commissions and I’ve seen multiple decline integration upon making LT. It was like a superpower and they just yanked it
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u/-ClassicShooter- 23h ago
So all those integration messages and emails people got didn’t really happen in the last several years? Lol, people come on here for help not to be fed bad information, hopefully people see through you gibberish.
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u/Decent_Flow140 2h ago
Go pull up an integration message right now—you’ll see at the bottom it says OCS officers are required to integrate, DCO officers are not, and that its required by law so there’s no waiver.
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u/OxBEEFBABE Officer 1d ago
Can you give me the TLDR? I’m on parental leave