Somebody have a good explanation for variability in getting TDY?

[usma05]

Ok, so I have an upcoming oral board exam in Raleigh, NC of which I just received the date and time for. I go to the admin people to set up a TDY (as directed by my Department Head and XO)...They are full-blown obstructionists. Citing regs and paperwork, questioning me whether it was a conference, telling me it won't get approved, and saying I was outside the 60 day window (again, I went to them as soon as I received the date/time from the board). Funny thing is, I graduated with 10 other individuals (5 Army, 5 Navy), all of whom received TDY to take their oral board. And I'm at the 'crown jewel' of Army medicine, while they are at a mixture of MEDCEN/MEDDACs. They had absolutely no trouble getting the TDY, and they find it hard to believe I do. I will fill out the paperwork, but I hate getting the run around and I hate feeling like people aren't there to help.

I'm fully aware of the GSA scandal (it impacted me directly- i.e. losing non-governmental funding to a national conference days before because a lawyer said it would look bad that we would use any funding when the government was cracking down on use of their own funds). I'm also aware of the sequestration/government shutdown bs a while back (I was on a residency rotation in Germany at the end of one fiscal year and beginning of another when the government refused to pay the travel agency my return ticket for a TDY back. I got an extra week in Germany while they figured out what to do, which involved the hospital ponying up the money and paying twice the cost for my original ticket. Lot of savings there.)

This post, while partly theraputic rant, also serves the purpose of seeing if anyone knows why there is such variability between Army institutions in the same fiscal year for the exact same TDY reason. Or if anybody has any knowledge about how to overcome obstructionist DA civilians...

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[HighPriest]

There is absolutely no standard in the Army regarding TDY other than that it is difficult to get for any reason other than military training. Every instillation provides you with a different amount of feedback and BS regarding a TDY request, be that for board cert, CME, or conferences. I personally believe that this is a result of misunderstanding on the part of the points of contact as to what CME or board certification are relative to conferences, and partially because of a lack of direction from the head of the great serpent that is Army Med. So while it is not comforting, I would say that your frustrations are fairly ubiquitous.

 

[Member 1337]

This post, while partly theraputic rant, also serves the purpose of seeing if anyone knows why there is such variability between Army institutions in the same fiscal year for the exact same TDY reason. Or if anybody has any knowledge about how to overcome obstructionist DA civilians...

usma05, I'm sorry you're having a difficult time with the TDY for Boards - it can make what is already a somewhat stressful experience even moreso.

I would recommend asking your Dept. Head and XO if you can cc them on an e-mail addressed to the administrator(s). In this (very polite) e-mail, I would tell the administrator how much you appreciate their support in working the TDY for your board exam. You acknowledge it may be outside of their usual TDY process, however this is very common for physician Board examination TDY assignments and has full support of hospital leadership. Please do not hesitate to contact you or your Dept. Head if they have any questions/concerns regarding its legitimacy. You are standing by to support them in this request.

This way, you're not a long ranger asking for an exception to policy, you're an institution appropriately requesting Govt. funds which may involve reasonable flexibility to routine standards. They won't want to bug your LTC Dept. Head but will know he is keeping an eye on the outcome.

 

[backrow]

I have found that the level of obstructionist/ineptitude of the hospital's comptroller to be the deciding factor of how painful or not TDY issues are.

Yes, the travel office is the face of the issue, but when I really dug into it the Comptroller was the one causing the issues which led to policies passed to the travel office.