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(CNN)The US Navy will comply with an order from the Hawaii Department of Health to halt operations at its Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage facility at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam after a leak late last year contaminated drinking water and sickened military families. Capt. Bill Clinton, director of public affairs and outreach for US Pacific Fleet, confirmed the shutdown Monday.

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To the editor: There are at least a couple of problems with the logic used by those in the military refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. I find it hard to understand why many are worried that the shots "were too new for their risks to be fully understood." It's a tough argument to make when roughly 9.37 billion doses have been given worldwide.

Starting with the new year, the Navy is requiring senior enlisted sailors and some officers to use a government travel charge card to pay for a permanent change of station. A PCS can cost thousands of dollars for travel, lodging and vehicle rentals, along with an untold cost in stress. Paying those expenses with a government card is designed to reduce the burden on sailors and improve government accounting, according to a Navy financial specialist.

The Seattle Times editorial board is misguided with its Navy reset recommendation for Whidbey Island [“Navy and Whidbey Island advocates need compromise on jet noise,” Dec. 27, Opinion]. There is no “feud between the U.S. Navy and residents of Whidbey Island.” Relationships between the base and Whidbey area leaders are among the best in the nation. The Navy is being sued by a specific, energetic, well-funded activist group. Once the pinnacle of environmental law, the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act now present endless opportunities for “long running” litigation.

The Navy has separated 20 sailors, all of whom were in their first 180 days of active duty, for continued refusal of the COVID-19 vaccine. The sailors are the first that the Navy has separated, the sea service announced Wednesday evening. No other active-duty sailors have been separated due to vaccine refusal, although the executive officer of USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) was separated in December for failure to follow a lawful order. A Navy official told USNI News that the officer would not get vaccinated against or tested for COVID-19. The 20 entry-level separations were done during initial training periods, according to the Navy’s COVID-19 update Wednesday.

MILLINGTON, TENN. – Sailors interested in rate conversions may now see the availability of positions prior to applying. This is a new feature of the latest MyNavy Assignment (MNA) release, launched Dec. 3, 2021. Sailors can now determine their potential fit in a rate conversion depending on the available positions advertised in MNA for Sailor application. Previously Sailors had to apply without knowing the positions available, but they can now shop for positions and see the availability of both in-rate and out-of-rate jobs. Most conversion requests will be initiated, reviewed, and adjudicated within MNA. If quotas out of the Sailor’s current rate are not available, Sailors will not normally be able to submit conversion applications.

TOKYO — The U.S. military in Japan accounted for another 242 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday as the winter coronavirus surge continues, according to military and Japanese reports. Marine Corps installations reported the bulk of those increases. The total at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, 25 miles south of Hiroshima, grew to 240 with another 50 counted on Monday and 47 on Tuesday, according to base news releases. That cluster started with eight confirmed cases on Dec. 27.

FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii — The Hawaii Department of Health on Monday gave final approval to an emergency order to close the Navy’s Red Hill underground fuel storage facility on Oahu that is linked to contaminated water affecting thousands living in military communities. “Today’s decision affirms DOH’s actions to safeguard the drinking water that we share as a community,” Kathleen Ho, deputy director of environmental health, said in a news release. Ho ordered the facility closed Dec. 6, about a week after people living on and near Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam began complaining of foul-smelling tap water that carried an oily sheen.

PMK-EE Deadline for Cycle 255 - Active Duty/ Full-Time Support PMK-EE COMPLETION DEADLINE: for Cycle 255 (March 2022 E-4 through E-6 Active Duty/ Full-Time Support) is 31 January! Don't wait until the last minute. Remember PMK-EE completion is required only once per pay grade and can be taken on the PMK-EE mobile app or on Navy eLearning. See NAVADMIN 260/21 for more information.

Washington (CNN)A federal judge in Texas on Monday ruled against the Biden administration's vaccine requirement for members of the military in a decision that took aim at how the Navy's policies handled those who sought religious exemptions from receiving the Covid-19 vaccine. US District Judge Reed O'Connor issued a preliminary order blocking the Navy from taking adverse action against 35 Navy Seals who sued in court because they are seeking exemption from the vaccine requirement for religious reasons. The order blocked the Navy from implementing policies that would allow those religious objectors to be deemed non-deployable or disqualified from Special Operations.

OKLAHOMA CITY (Tribune News Service) — The adjutant general for the Oklahoma National Guard said Thursday that unvaccinated airmen may not participate in drills after Jan. 1, 2022. In an emailed statement, Adjutant Gen. Thomas Mancino informed members of the Oklahoma Air National Guard that due to the state's loss in court on Tuesday, members must be vaccinated or they cannot participate in the National Guard. The message is an about-face from Wednesday, when a spokesperson for the Guard said unvaccinated airmen would not face repercussions.

When it comes to confronting the environmental risk that the Navy’s underground fuel storage tanks at Red Hill pose to Oahu, the state of Hawaii should not take “no” from the military as the final say. Predictably, the Navy has chosen to downplay just how dangerous their aging World War II-era fuel facilities are. It has apologized for Assistant Secretary of the Navy James Balocki’s comments that Red Hill poses “an urgent and compelling situation, perhaps. Not a crisis.” But apologies are useless platitudes when corrective actions are not taken.

COVID ADSEP Checklist and NAVADMINs

It appears as though NMCI has implemented new network access restrictions that have negatively impacted NAVFIT98A functionality. From what NWIC/SPAWAR has determined, NAVFIT98A is unable to open the ACCESS database residing on a network server location. This is not a NAVFIT98A issue, it is an NMCI-driven privilege and/or permissions issue. However, we have identified a workaround. For your NAVFIT98A to function properly, you must: 1. Copy the NAVFIT98A ACCESS database file from the network and put it on the local machine’s hard drive. 2. Launch NAVFIT98A and open the database file that was copied to the local machine’s hard drive and perform your NAVFIT98A-related work. 3. Once you have completed your NAVFIT98A-related work, the ACCESS database file can be copied back to the original network server location for storage thereby enabling the next NAVFIT98A user to gain access to that data by repeating the steps outlined above. Until NMCI changes this new network privilege/permissions restriction, NAVFIT98A will only be able to open database files that reside on the local machine hard drive.

More than 8,000 members of the Navy remain unvaccinated after deadlines for both active-duty and reservists passed. There are 5,328 active-duty sailors and 3,002 Ready Reserve service members who are unvaccinated, as of Dec. 29, according to the Navy. Included in the number are those who are in the process of getting vaccinated, have an exemption or are waiting for an exemption request to be adjudicated.

The Department of Defense recommended COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for all eligible civilian employees and service members on Tuesday as the U.S. hit a record number of new coronavirus cases. The DOD urged anyone over age 18 and already vaccinated to get the booster as a means of mitigating the surge in coronavirus cases associated with the delta and omicron variants, according to a memo from Michael Donley, director for administration and management at the Pentagon.

A person from Sasebo Naval Base, Japan, who died in the past week of unknown causes was afterward confirmed positive for the coronavirus, according to a base spokesman on Tuesday. The deceased was affiliated with the Navy, but the base did not specify in what capacity. That person was tested prior to receiving care at a Japanese hospital and subsequently died there, base spokesman Aki Nichols told Stars and Stripes in a phone call Tuesday. He said the test came back positive for COVID-19, the coronavirus respiratory disease, after the person’s death.

UNCLASSIFIED// ROUTINE R 281905Z DEC 21 MID200001367435U FM SECNAV WASHINGTON DC TO ALNAV INFO SECNAV WASHINGTON DC CNO WASHINGTON DC CMC WASHINGTON DC BT UNCLAS ALNAV 091/21 MSGID/GENADMIN/SECNAV WASHINGTON DC/-/DEC// SUBJ/PROHIBITION OF ENGAGEMNENT WITH THE NAVAL ATTACHE ASSOCIATION BY DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PERSONNEL// REF/A/EMAIL/JOINT STAFF/03DEC21// NARR/REF A IS NSC APPROVAL AND CONFIRMATION OF INTERAGENCY COORDINATION ON THIS PROPOSED DON POLICY CHANGE.// RMKS/1. Engagement of naval representatives of our foreign partners by Department of the Navy (DON) leadership is of paramount importance to our international engagement and cooperation, and to advancing strategic and operational interests of the Department of Defense and the DON. Active and informed engagement by DON leadership with foreign naval representatives is expected and encouraged. 2. That engagement must be conducted in accordance with overarching U.S. interests and values, and must not provide advantage to our strategic competitors or allow those competitors to disadvantage the appropriate engagement of foreign partners with the DON leadership. 3. However, recent actions by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) have complicated the Departments ability to utilize the Naval Attache Association (NAA) as a forum to facilitate partners access to senior DON leadership. The Department does not support PRC coercive tactics and censorship and will always oppose such efforts to manipulate independent organizations and actors. 4. Accordingly, effective until further notice, unless specifically authorized by the Secretary of the Navy, the members of the Department will no longer participate in NAA-sponsored or hosted events. The Department WILL continue to engage with the entire Corps of Foreign Naval Attaches, and looks forward to hosting inclusive opportunities to continue fostering open dialogue and understanding with our valued naval attache colleagues. 5. The Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy is the DON office responsible for oversight of this policy. 6. Released by the Honorable Carlos Del Toro, Secretary of the Navy.// BT #0001 NNNN UNCLASSIFIED//

WASHINGTON -- About two dozen sailors on a U.S. Navy warship — or roughly 25% of the crew — have now tested positive for COVID-19, keeping the ship sidelined in port at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay Monday, according to U.S. defense officials.

U.S. Navy commanders whose ship is hobbled by a coronavirus outbreak are consulting with military medical personnel about providing vaccine boosters to the crew, officials said, as senior Defense Department leaders assess how the USS Milwaukee can resume its deployment amid a global spike in infections fueled by the highly transmissible omicron variant. The Milwaukee, a littoral combat ship with a crew of 105 plus a detachment of Coast Guard personnel and an aviation unit, remained idle Monday at the U.S. military base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where it stopped to refuel Dec. 20. It had been at sea less than a week. The Navy has not disclosed how many of the ship’s personnel have tested positive for the virus, saying only that some exhibited mild symptoms and that measures were taken to isolate those infected.

The Department of Defense (DoD) announced last week that troops in 15 metropolitan areas and 21 non-metropolitan counties in the continental United States will be cut off from a cost-of-living allowance starting Jan. 1. The change will lead to approximately 48,000 troops missing out on the Continental United States Cost-of-Living Allowance (CONUS COLA), according to Stars and Stripes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Navy warship has paused its deployment to South America because of a coronavirus outbreak, the Navy said Friday. The USS Milwaukee, a litorral combat ship, is staying in port at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, where it had stopped for a scheduled port visit. It began its deployment from Mayport, Fla., on December 14 and was heading into the U.S. Southern Command region.

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