One of the many benefits offered to active duty, drilling Reservists, and retired military personnel is access to military lodging at an inexpensive and affordable rate. This article will highlight the aspects of the Navy Lodge, the Navy Bachelor Quarters (BQs), the Armed Forces Recreation Centers, and condominium time-share resorts.

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This month’s article is submitted by John S. Hughes, CAPT, MC (RET) – Diving Medical Officer: Navy Mobile Diving and Salvage Units and Naval Sea Systems Command. ... I elected to commit to the more specialized form of operational medical training suggested by my SEAL neighbor: diving medicine. This operational medicine specialty is involved with the care of diving-related injuries and illnesses of Navy salvage, EOD, and SEAL divers. The training involved being trained as a diver as well as in areas of diving medicine, and it was a six-month course of instruction and practical training.

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The APPLY Web site has been up and running for about a month now and is full of good stuff to read. You can access it at http:navyreserve.navy.mil. (Click on the APPLY logo at the top of the Web page.) There have been a lot of changes to the APPLY process for FY07; and those changes affect almost every aspect of the program, including “who,” “what,” and “when.” So, for those reasons, it is now necessary to step back and review those changes that affect our officers and the entire application process.

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Modern technology allowed exercise participants in distant locations to have visibility to the same classified battle picture as the participants back at headquarters. One of the interesting things shown on the monitors was the simultaneous tracking of multiple threat and readiness condition levels. These changed daily throughout the exercise and not always in ways that were intuitively obvious or in concert with each other. Some of these can be set very high for localized conditions while others may remain low for the same local area. The title of this article refers to the common use of the word “purple” to refer to “joint” (i.e., events involving more than one branch of the military) evolutions.

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Happy Birthday, Navy Reservists. March marks the ninety-first birthday of the establishment of the Federal Naval Reserve by an act of congress. Now, in the first two sentences, I have said "Naval Reserve" and "Navy Reservists"; and I think that this birthday is an excellent time to talk about - why the change? Some of you may be on board and many of you may not have any idea why. In December, as part of Congress finally getting the Defense Authorization Bill passed, they also included the official name change from the Naval Reserve to the Navy Reserve.

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This month, we celebrate the 91st birthday of the Navy Reserve. Going back to the late 1700s, the Uniform Militia Act formed the precursor to today's Navy Reserve. They were “citizen soldiers” who equipped themselves, enjoyed military activities, and stood ready to serve the nation when needed. The need for a Navy contingent became evident during the War of 1812; and soon thereafter, the concept of a Navy Militia was introduced. In 1915, the Naval Reserve was formed; and since then, several Acts have been executed that have brought us to today’s Navy Reserve organization.

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With the recently passed FY06 Defense Authorization and Appropriation Acts, the Navy Reserve has had five years of rebalancing and transformation. Because these critical defense bills were passed extremely late, the military, including Reserve Components, are implementing FY06 budget authorities, reacting to the FY07 budget request, and working on POM FY08 submissions.

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The purpose of this article is to enable you to retire correctly administratively and to bring to light the many elements that should be onsidered in your decision to retire. Additionally, it will enhance your knowledge of the Retired Reserve (without pay), commonly called the "Gray Area."

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