my navy assignment navy

(e.g. [email protected])

Remember me

Forgot Password?

• SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LLOYD J. AUSTIN III
• Combatant Commands
• Holiday Greetings Map
• Taking Care of Our People
• Focus on the Indo-Pacific
• Support for Ukraine
• Value of Service
• Face of Defense
• Science and Technology
• Publications
• Storytellers
• Tell Your Story
• Media Awards
• Hometown Heroes

Hometown News

• Create Request
• Media Press Kit

• DVIDS DIRECT

Media Requests

About dvids.

• Privacy & Security
• Copyright Information
• Accessibility Information
• Customer Service

MyNavy Assignment Latest Release Brings More Transparency to Rate Conversion Applications

Millington, tn, united states, story by petty officer 2nd class jared catlett  , navy personnel command.

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. Once signed into MNA homepage Sailors can access both their personal information and the “My Conversion Opportunities” page where the new capabilities can be found. It is important to note that job conversion opportunities are filtered based on a Sailor’s year group and personal information. Sailors should always verify that their year group and personal information are correct. Direct Conversion Requests are another option that allow Sailors outside their order negotiation window to apply for a job with a different rating. Enlisted Community Managers (ECMs) have the ability to set a “black out” time, also called a Direct Conversion Threshold, prior to a Sailor entering their order negotiation window. The Conversion Threshold prevents Sailors from making a Direct Conversion request in that time frame. For example, a six month “black out” period means that Sailors 18-13 months from their projected rotation date would be prohibited from making Direct Conversion Requests. Sailors inside their MNA negotiation window can request conversion by applying to a rating for which they qualify, assuming that both their current rating has Out-Quotas and the rating they are interested in converting to has In-Quotas. Out-Quotas are the number of Sailors allowed to convert out of a rating for a Sailor’s year group via a normal conversion application. If the Out-Quota is 0, the conversion request will normally be rejected. Out-Quotas are defined by rating, pay grade, year group, and service component. ECMs may also choose to define Out-Quotas by Naval Enlisted Classification (NEC). Sailors can navigate the “Conversion Ratings With In-Quotas” pane to see all available jobs in order of a Sailor’s level of qualifications, which is indicated by a Sailor’s Rating Identification Engine (RIDE)/Job Opportunities In the Navy (JOIN) score. General job searches can also be conducted by clicking the “In Opportunities Job Search” button which will then open a window that shows all convert-in available jobs. Sailors can filter and search jobs at will based on various criteria. By clicking a specific rating, Sailors can get more information on jobs available within a specific rating. Sailors complete a job search for a rating by clicking the Job Search button on the Rank pop-up. The pop-up will also display the RIDE/JOIN scores supplied by CWAY. It is extremely important that Sailors make sure that their CWAY information is up to date. Without up-to-date information, a Sailor’s RIDE/ JOIN scores will be incorrect. There is also a “Conversion Ratings with No Available Quotas” pane that Sailors may view and apply for ratings with no In-Quotas, but applications will likely be rejected. Sailors will be able to submit conversion applications during application phase. The next application phase begins Dec. 23, 2021. For more information regarding the MyNavy Assignment latest release please visit: https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/Career-Management/Detailing/MyNavy-Assignment/ https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/Career-Management/Career-Counseling/C-WAY/

LEAVE A COMMENT

Public domain  .

This work, MyNavy Assignment Latest Release Brings More Transparency to Rate Conversion Applications , by PO2 Jared Catlett , identified by DVIDS , must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright .

MORE LIKE THIS

Controlled vocabulary keywords.

No keywords found.

•   Register/Login to Download

DVIDS Control Center

• 404-282-1450
• [email protected]

Web Support

• [email protected]
• 1-888-743-4662
• Links Disclaimer
• No FEAR Act
• Small Business Act
• Open Government
• Strategic Plan
• Inspector General
• Sexual Assault Prevention
• DVI Records Schedule
• DVI Executive Summary
• Section 3103

Frequently Asked Questions About Navy Assignments

Frequently Asked Questions About Naval Service

• US Military Careers
• Technology Careers
• Sports Careers
• Project Management
• Professional Writer
• Music Careers
• Legal Careers
• Government Careers
• Finance Careers
• Fiction Writing Careers
• Entertainment Careers
• Criminology Careers
• Book Publishing
• Animal Careers
• Advertising

Shore Duty Questions

Questions about navy orders, different types of duty, other duty questions.

Rod Powers was a retired Air Force First Sergeant with 22 years of active duty service.

• Air Force NCO Academy

If you are considering joining the military (any branch) start your research and education long before you step foot into the recruiter's office. Your education into the Navy should not begin with the recruiter telling you what you should do in the Navy.  You should have a good understanding of what job (rating) you want to apply for - perhaps your top three to be honest. Too many people make a major recruiting mistake by not doing their due diligence into the opportunities available with military service. Do yourself a favor and start now. Start with this article followed by the official websites and forum groups of the service and the job you are seeking. Your experience will be much better if you know where you want to be placed versus getting placed where the Navy needs you the most. 

There are many rules and regulations surrounding job assignments in the Navy . In general, sailors are assigned to ships or submarines (sea duty) for three years, and shore duty for three years. That doesn't mean that sailors will spend their entire three-year deployment at sea, since ships and submarines spend a large amount of time docked in their home ports. Though expect about half your time deployed or out to sea training to deploy. See the world - join the Navy!

Here are some of the most frequently-asked questions about Navy assignments. 

Q: How likely is it that I will be able to get an extension while on shore duty? 

A: These decisions are made by detailers, who are in charge of all assignments for a given job community and rate range. Although the detailer makes every effort to approve personal requests, requests to extend beyond the normal shore duty length are not usually approved, since it would potentially require adjusting another sailor's sea tour due to fleet requirements. 

Q: Can I go to a specific location for my shore duty if I want to be near home?

A: Very limited opportunity exists for shore duty outside of the normal fleet-concentrated areas. The availability of billets, the priority of those billets and a sailor's career path will be the primary deciding factors of their next assignment. However, there are recruiting duty opportunities in every state. If you want to get home or near home, it may require a recruiting duty shore tour unless you are from a place that has a major military base. 

Q: Can I go to C school en route to my next command?

A: All Navy enlisted jobs (ratings) have an A school, where sailors learn fundamental skills, and a C school, which involves advanced training for that job.

Most C school quotas are utilized to fill Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) requirements of a command's billet file. If there is a valid requirement for a new NEC and if a school quota is open in the proper transfer window then a C school may be considered en route to the next command.

Q: When should I expect to get my orders?

A: Each detailer writes orders as soon as possible near the six-month window, so only a sailor's specific detailer can answer this. Most orders are in the sailor's hand within three weeks of being released by the detailer.

Q: When is the best time to call for orders?

A: Call on the first requisition cycle after you come into the nine-month detailing window. When you call early you have the maximum chance of getting your choice of assignment. 

Q: Why are there six type duty codes but only five actual types of duty?

A: The former Type 5 was neutral duty, which did not count toward sea or shore duty. Neutral duty was eliminated by the Navy in 2000. 

Q: What are the different types of duty?

A: Here's a list of the different duty types,  from the Navy website :

• Type 1: Contiguous United States (CONUS) shore duty
• Type 2 CONUS sea duty
• Type 3 Overseas shore (sea duty for rotational purposes)
• Type 4 Overseas sea duty
• Type 5: Overseas shore duty

Q: How do I get considered for a Special Duty Program assignment?

A: Each rating detailer provides personnel to the special duty programs. There are parameters that must be followed by each rate/rating for each assignment. Discuss the special programs options with your detailer when you are negotiating your next assignment.

Spouse Co-Location Questions

Q: I just married or am going to marry a military spouse. Will we be able to be stationed together?

A: The Enlisted Transfer Manual (Art. 3.21) states that every effort will be made to allow military couples to move together whenever possible in the same manner as non-military couples. Both military members must submit an official co-location assignment request.

Q: When should a sailor submit spouse co-location requests?

A: Submit these requests 12 months prior to your PRDs. This allows detailers the maximum amount of time to work on your request. Attaching a copy of your spouse's approved request to yours  can help speed the process along. But remember, spouse co-location is not guaranteed. 

Q: I was just advanced in rate. Does my tour length change to match my new pay grade?

A: Projected rotation dates (PRDs) are set for the pay grade you were when the orders were issued. They are not adjusted due to advancements or reductions in rate. 

Q: My detailer told me I was posted, what does that mean?

A: This means you have been placed on a requisition to hold that billet for you. It does not mean that orders have been issued. Once a billet has a posting next to it, others who may also want that billet are turned away. 

Q: What is a MAT?

A: MAT stands for minimum activity tour. This is the minimum tour length you have to complete before you can be transferred. Most commands have a 24-month minimum activity tour. This assures each command gets stability from your assignment.  Most sailors considering a lateral transfer into another rating are required to stay at their current command for the MAT time. 

Typically, most jobs in the Navy have a general pipeline of training and the type of commands that are available to any one's career. However, deviating from the general pipeline is possible and must fill a need or requirement for special programs, advanced education, or other special circumstances. If you can learn how the system works, you can make it work for you. 

• Pros and Cons of Joining the Navy
• Navy Construction Electrician (CE)
• Navy Counselor (NC) Job Details
• Navy Hospital Corpsman (HM) Enlisted Rating
• Navy Aviation Aerographer Mate – AG
• Navy Enlisted Boatswains Mate – NEC-B400
• Navy Master At Arms Job Descriptions And Training
• Navy Builders (Sea-Bee) Navy Enlisted Rating Job Descriptions
• Navy Special Warfare Boat Operator (SB)
• Navy Selective Reenlistment Bonus Program
• Navy Cryptologic Technicians – CT
• The Navy Full Time Support (FTS) Program
• First Duty and Future Assignments in the Military
• Explosive Ordnance Disposal – EOD
• U.S. Navy Legalman (LN) Job Overview
• Marine Corps Humanitarian Assignments

• Cover Letters
• Jobs I've Applied To
• Saved Searches
• Subscriptions

Marine Corps

Coast guard.

• Space Force
• Military Podcasts
• Benefits Home
• Military Pay and Money
• Veteran Health Care
• VA eBenefits
• Veteran Job Search
• Military Skills Translator
• Upload Your Resume
• Veteran Employment Project
• Vet Friendly Employers
• Career Advice
• Military Life Home
• Military Trivia Game
• Veterans Day
• Spouse & Family
• Military History
• Discounts Home
• Featured Discounts
• Veterans Day Restaurant Discounts
• Electronics
• Join the Military Home
• Contact a Recruiter
• Military Fitness

New Cold-Assignment Incentive Pay Coming for Airmen and Guardians at 7 Bases

In a move aimed at incentivizing airmen and Guardians stationed in the remotest and coldest parts of the country, the Department of the Air Force has finally approved cold weather pay for troops at seven bases.

As of April 1, airmen and Guardians stationed at U.S. bases where temperatures sometimes drop 20 degrees below zero will earn the new lump-sum payment if they agree to serve at least a yearlong tour.

Locations that qualify for the incentive include North Dakota's Cavalier Space Force Station and Minot and Grand Forks Air Force Bases ; Alaska's Clear Space Force Station, Eielson Air Force Base and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson ; and Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.

Read Next : Army Eyes Dramatic Cuts to Key Education Benefits for Soldiers

The announcement comes more than a year after passage of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which included a provision for the services to provide an Arctic incentive pay.

A defense official told Military.com in January that the military's existing programs already compensate service members serving in those areas well enough, but the Department of the Air Force went ahead with its own program.

"Airmen and Guardians living in extremely cold conditions faced unique out-of-pocket costs," Alex Wagner, assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs, said in a statement to Military.com. "In addition to the assignment and retention benefits of the pay, it also comes down to making sure we do our best to take care of our service members and their families stationed at these critical installations."

Similar to the Army 's existing Remote and Austere Conditions Assignment Incentive Pay, the Air Force's new Cold Weather Incentive pay program "intends to ease the financial burden of purchasing certain cold weather essentials" like jackets and other Arctic-protective clothes, season-appropriate tires, engine block heaters and emergency roadside kits, the service told Military.com.

The pay ranges from $500 to $5,000 depending on location and how many dependents an airman or Guardian has. Though the program is effective as of April 1, the first pay date is July 1. If a service member moves to one of the seven locations between April 1 and June 30, they will receive the benefit retroactively, the Air Force said.

"We want to ensure airmen, Guardians and their families have the resources needed to safely live and work in an extreme cold-weather environment," Wagner said in the statement.

Notably, two of the nation's nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile bases are on the list: Malmstrom in Montana and Minot in North Dakota.

The announcement of the payment comes as the service's Cold War-era facilities at ICBM bases are being sanitized and investigated for toxins that could lead to cancer. Military.com has reported that both of those bases found levels of polychlorinated biphenyls -- a known carcinogen -- above the Environmental Protection Agency's threshold of 10 micrograms per 100 square centimeters.

Editor's note: This story was corrected to say Cavalier Space Force Station, Minot Air Force Base and Grand Forks Air Force Base are located in North Dakota.

Related : New Arctic Pay for Troops Was Passed by Congress a Year Ago. But the Pentagon Waved It Off.

Thomas Novelly

You May Also Like

First lady Jill Biden spoke at a White House ceremony she hosted with Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks and Deputy...

A civilian contractor sent to work as an interrogator at Iraq’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison resigned within two weeks of his...

The USNS 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo "experienced a fire in the engine room while in transit to the eastern Mediterranean Sea" on...

The Alaska Air National Guard flew 159 civilian search-and-rescue missions last year in the nation's largest state, often...

Military News

• Investigations and Features
• Military Opinion

Select Service

• National Guard

Most Popular Military News

The maintenance-embattled USS Boxer is heading back to San Diego just 10 days after deploying due to an engineering issue, as...

The Louisiana soldiers are spaced in groups of two or three over the 1.5 mile, 400-yard-wide strip of land.

The roughly $11 million deal set the service up to be the premier partner for the league's inaugural season, which started...

A Military.com investigation into military day care centers revealed that service branch rules generally prioritize...

The recommendation on boosting paychecks is part of the final report from the House Armed Services Committee's military...

Latest Benefits Info

• Military Tuition Assistance (TA) Overview
• GI Bill Monthly Housing Allowance
• The Active-Duty Montgomery GI Bill
• Fertility Benefits for Active-Duty Service Members
• Retirees, VA Disability Recipients to Get Biggest Pay Raise Since 2012

More Military Headlines

An Army Reserve major and civilian Army employee, Caz Craffy improperly invested money and collected $1.4 million in...

• Army Financial Counselor Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Gold Star Families of Death Gratuity, Life Insurance Money
• Rare Tribute of Lying in Honor at Capitol Bestowed to Korean War Hero Col. Ralph Puckett
• Sikorsky to Lay Off Hundreds in Connecticut After Army Helicopter Decision
• Air Force Identifies Seemingly Higher Rate of Rare Brain Cancer Among Children at New Mexico Base
• Air Force Secretary: Runway Upgrades to Support 185th 'Moving Forward'
• Air Force Chief of Staff Highlights Quality-of-Life Updates for Airmen in Latest Memo to the Force
• Navy Ship Slated to Help Build Gaza Aid Pier Forced to Return to Port as Experts Warn of Other Delays
• Navy Nixes Possible City Landfill Site Near Pearl Harbor-Hickam
• Report Finds Military Facilities at 'Increased Risk' of Fuel Spills

Military Benefits Updates

• Military Child Care Fees
• The Mental Burden of Using Military Benefits
• Former Marine 'Neo-Nazi' Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison for Firebombing of Planned Parenthood
• Pentagon's Second Review of Abbey Gate Attack Finds Troops Didn't See Bomber Before the Explosion
• Marines in Uniform Were Photographed at Mar-a-Lago Event. Service Says It Was for a Veterans Charity.
• Coast Guard Reopens Ohio River Near Pittsburgh to Maritime Traffic After Sunken Barge Is Found
• 55 Coast Guard Academy Cadets Disciplined in Cheating Scandal
• 'HELP' Message on Remote Island Saves Sailors Stranded for a Week, Coast Guard Says

Entertainment

• The Incredible Wartime Career of Lee Miller, Model-Turned-World War II Combat Photographer
• How the OJ Simpson Verdict Overshadowed a Watershed Moment for Atomic Veterans
• PBS' 'After Action' Takes a Personal Look at the Lives of Veterans Forever Changed by Military Service

GOP Senate candidate in Montana builds campaign on once-secret Navy exploits

Tim sheehy, who has offered inconsistent accounts of his war wounds, was a well-respected navy seal. now he’s benefiting from the elite force’s star power..

When Tim Sheehy completed training as a Navy SEAL in 2009 and shipped off to Iraq, the elite fighting force was not a household name. People were perplexed when he told them what he did, he would later say.

That all changed in 2011, when a SEAL team conducted the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, a shift that took Sheehy, now a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Montana, by surprise. Suddenly, he said, “SEALs were everywhere, you know — TV shows, books.”

“It was crazy,” Sheehy, 38, added in a podcast interview last November. “And to be honest, we got overexposed.” As a result, he said, “sometimes I hate saying I was a Navy SEAL because I was like, ‘Oh great, I’m so sick of hearing about Navy SEALs.’”

But as he campaigns in one of the country’s most competitive Senate races, which could decide control of the chamber, Sheehy — a decorated veteran who earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star — is hardly circumspect about his work as a Navy SEAL.

He lists it as the first line in all his online profiles. He splashed it across his campaign website. He mentioned it nearly 70 times in his 2023 memoir. He told the audience at a Republican women’s meeting in Montana last fall, “I’m a war hero, a job creator, a philanthropist.”

In touting his time as a SEAL, however, Sheehy has sometimes contradicted himself and made puzzling statements about aspects of his Navy activity.

Most notably, Sheehy, who now owns an aerial firefighting business, has told voters that he has a bullet in his arm from combat in Afghanistan. But he told a National Park Service ranger in 2015 that he had accidentally shot himself when his Colt .45 revolver fell and discharged in Montana’s Glacier National Park, according to a record of the episode filed in court. When asked about that account last week, Sheehy told The Washington Post that he had lied to the ranger to protect himself and his former platoonmates from scrutiny over an old bullet wound that he said he had suffered in Afghanistan in 2012.

This week, after The Post sent new questions to Sheehy’s campaign, the candidate posted part of the inquiry on social media and warned of a “hit piece attacking me for serving my country.” Katie Martin, a campaign spokeswoman, did not respond to those questions but issued a statement saying, in part, “Tim Sheehy humbly served our nation with honor as a Navy SEAL. He has never called himself a hero, but he served alongside plenty of them. His military service is well documented and is a matter of public record.”

Since The Post first reported Sheehy’s 2015 encounter with the park ranger, some Republicans in Montana and nationally have rallied around him. But VoteVets, a liberal political action committee focused on electing veterans, said it was “deeply troubled that a fellow veteran may have misrepresented aspects of their service while trying to win a political campaign” and called on Sheehy to release underlying medical records.

In discussing his Navy career, Sheehy has highlighted the work he did with the unit that killed bin Laden, SEAL Team Six, also sometimes called “Task Force Blue,” tying himself in the process to one of its darkest episodes, the death of an aid worker in a failed rescue attempt.

Finally, Sheehy has offered different explanations for his exit from the Navy — variously saying he left because of wounds from Afghanistan and because of a heart problem triggered by an underwater training mission in the Pacific.

All political candidates must promote their work experience. The blend of secrecy and valor central to SEAL activity makes that task more promising — but also more perilous. Part of the official SEAL ethos states , “I do not advertise the nature of my work, nor seek recognition for my actions.”

Still, Sheehy joins a growing number of former SEALs discussing that work as they campaign to win votes. In the decade since Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) became the first former Navy SEAL elected to the U.S. House, in 2014, the ranks of retired members of the elite force in Congress have grown to five — all Republican, from Texas, Arizona and Wisconsin, in addition to Montana.

Sheehy would be the sixth, and the second from Montana after Zinke. His path points to the dilemmas involved in mixing politics with the SEAL ethos.

“There’s this conflict inside the SEAL teams between being the quiet professional, which is the professed ideal, and trading on the reputation of the organization for your own personal benefit,” said Dave Madden, a former Navy SEAL who served with Sheehy in Afghanistan and declined to comment specifically on his former platoonmate.

Trained to fight

Sheehy grew up outside Minneapolis. His father was in the financial services industry, and his mother has worked as a museum docent, according to a college roommate, Nick Adkins.

The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were decisive for him, Sheehy wrote in his 2023 memoir, “Mudslingers.”

“Like a lot of young men in the early 2000s, I was eager to fight,” he wrote. “Who needed college when the world seemingly was on fire?”

His parents insisted on college, he wrote, so he applied and gained admission to the U.S. Naval Academy.

Adkins, his roommate for all four years, said Sheehy was driven and exacting. He took issue with the film “300,” Adkins said, because he said it included inaccuracies about the Battle of Thermopylae in the Greco-Persian Wars. He was first impressed by the woman who would become his wife — Carmen, a Naval Academy classmate who would go on to become a Marine — because she could do more pull-ups than Sheehy, according to Adkins.

While at the Naval Academy, Sheehy also went to Ranger School, the Army’s rigorous tactical leadership course, in 2006, part of what he described as an “experimental program” to integrate Navy officers in Army operations at a time when Special Operations units were under pressure globally.

Another classmate, Donnie Horner III, said Sheehy “doesn’t view being a Ranger, being a SEAL or even being a U.S. Senate candidate at 38 as something to brag about or a feather in his cap. He sees it as his commitment to duty and service.”

Reflecting on Sheehy’s current task of translating that experience to the campaign trail, Horner said, “I would say it would not come naturally for him to talk about his extraordinary career as a Ranger or a SEAL.”

Sheehy completed SEAL training in 2009 and quickly deployed to Iraq.

“I went right to a team that was already deployed,” Sheehy said in the November 2023 interview, explaining to a county sheriff and podcast host in Montana how he graduated, drove across the country, “hopped on a plane, and was in Iraq a day later.”

A taste of combat

Sheehy was eager to see combat, as he wrote in his memoir, but he spent much of his first deployment in an operations center in Baghdad, according to Matt Stevens, the commanding officer of the SEAL team that welcomed the young recruit.

Because Sheehy joined midway through the deployment, Stevens said, he focused mainly on behind-the-scenes work in the Iraqi capital.

He did that work well, according to Stevens. “He was more mature than his peers,” said the former commanding officer, “being a guy who could get things done, anticipate and take the initiative.”

Sheehy has said he completed several additional deployments in the Middle East and Central Asia, while also conducting counternarcotics work in South America — “deep in the Amazon” — and taking part in a “special reconnaissance team that would do missions around the world.”

In the fall of 2010, Sheehy assisted in the failed effort to rescue Linda Norgrove, a British aid worker whom the Taliban had kidnapped in eastern Afghanistan, according to Sheehy’s memoir. The effort, botched when a grenade thrown by a U.S. service member killed Norgrove, was led by the same elite SEAL team that would later kill bin Laden, according to published accounts.

Sheehy wrote that he was assigned to a classified task force and served “as a liaison between ‘Blue’ and our Army counterparts.” He recalled that “the process was maddening and the final result dispiriting.”

At an event promoting his memoir earlier this year, he called the Norgrove assignment “one of the most daring hostage rescue missions ever.” And he boasted of his responsibilities as a 25-year-old SEAL: “I’m up there running … you know, a task force to find a hostage.”

Sheehy’s unit had difficulties of its own in Afghanistan.

He was the officer in charge of a small platoon that spent the first half of 2012 deployed mostly in southeast Afghanistan, according to multiple former members of the platoon, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were still on active duty or in other fields that do not allow them to discuss past work.

Unlike most of his time in Baghdad, this was a very hazardous deployment for Sheehy — “firefights, IEDs almost daily,” recalled Scott Weaver, a platoonmate who was responsible for clearing explosive devices. The platoon was conducting what are called “village stability operations” — living in small rural outposts and seeking to empower local Afghans to take back control from the Taliban.

April 2012 was an especially brutal month for the platoon. That’s when Sheehy suffered the injuries that earned him a Purple Heart, which came after he was knocked unconscious by an IED blast, according to a local news report about his ceremony.

It was also the month that two members of the platoon were medically evacuated after being wounded in explosive blasts — first Craig Meekins, whom Sheehy carried on his shoulder to a helicopter, in an act that would later earn him a Bronze Star, and then Weaver, who said his left calf was blown off when a truck detonated an explosive device.

Weaver recalled in a podcast interview last summer how he had posed for a photo on a stretcher before being evacuated — part of a tradition of documenting combat wounds.

“The guys in war that had been hit had this kind of sick thing where whenever you got hit or shot, you had to do a picture with your thumbs up,” he said in the interview. “It was like the cool guy picture, right?”

Campaign trail

But soon after, Sheehy broke with tradition and kept a gunshot wound private, according to the account he gave to The Post last week.

He told The Post he suffered the wound at issue in the park ranger’s report in late April or May of 2012. He said he was unsure if the ricochet bullet that landed in his arm had come from enemy combatants or friendly fire, though he believed two members of his unit were positioned such that they may have been responsible. In his memoir, by contrast, he wrote that he knew which member of his team — a “total stud” — had accidentally shot him, and kept it quiet to protect that person and to avoid being sent away for medical treatment.

Sheehy said he received no treatment for the wound and feared disclosing it to the park ranger in Montana, three years later, because he was still a reservist at that time and thought such a disclosure could spark a Navy investigation — a possibility that some military experts said was remote. Sheehy said he didn’t shoot himself in the park but rather fell and cut his arm, an injury that he worried might have dislodged the bullet. He said he decided to go to the emergency room, where he said he informed hospital staff of the bullet in his arm, and hospital officials said they had to alert law enforcement of all gunshot wounds, leading to the interaction with the park ranger.

Sheehy’s campaign arranged an interview with a former member of the platoon who said he remembered Sheehy telling him while they were both in Afghanistan that he had been hit by a ricochet bullet but that he didn’t want to report the wound. The former platoon member spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is a military reservist and said he is not authorized to speak to the media.

The Post interviewed several other former members of the platoon who served with Sheehy during his 2012 deployment, and they said they understood why he might have kept a gunshot wound to himself — but said the only wounds they knew Sheehy to have suffered involved traumatic brain injury from explosive blasts. These former platoonmates said he didn’t mention a gunshot wound during the deployment or when platoon members reconvened in Virginia Beach later in 2012.

Weaver chalked up such a move to his leadership qualities.

“His mind-set was, ‘always the first one in, always the last one out,’ even when that put him in danger,” Weaver said. “At first I thought he had a death wish, but I very soon came to realize that’s just his leadership style.”

He probably feared “being shipped home away from his team,” Weaver added.

After that deployment, Sheehy moved to Honolulu, where he oversaw undersea missions until the fall of 2014, according to a résumé he submitted to the Montana legislature. That résumé, dated January 2021, says he was ultimately “medically separated from active duty due to wounds received in Afghanistan.”

Elsewhere, Sheehy has offered a different account of his departure from the Navy. In his 2023 memoir, he wrote that he decided to leave the Navy after a submarine incident in the Pacific left him with decompression sickness that made him “damaged goods” and would keep him from active duty. In the November 2023 podcast interview, he said the incident “popped a hole in my heart.”

Martin, the Sheehy spokeswoman, did not address the discrepancy, saying only, “Sheehy was honorably discharged from the Navy after being declared medically unfit to continue to serve as a Navy SEAL.”

As he looked for a place to land, he wrote in his memoir, “Montana seemed like the ideal spot.” It wasn’t too far from his home in Minnesota and offered plenty of outdoor space. He soon bought the aircraft — a 40-year-old Twin Commander 500 — that would become the centerpiece of his aerial firefighting business.

In 2015, he was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart in a ceremony presided over by Zinke, also a former Navy SEAL and then a Republican congressman from Montana who would later become Donald Trump’s interior secretary. Zinke returned to the U.S. House in 2023, the same year Sheehy launched his Senate campaign.

His launch video opens with footage from the Sept. 11 attacks and uses a font reminiscent of military movies and video games.

Other ads are filled with photos of Sheehy in military fatigues. In one, he ties his war experience to the culture wars, telling the camera, “I’m a combat-wounded Navy SEAL running for the Senate to get this woke crap out of our military and to keep our country safe.”

Alice Crites, Alex Horton, Fenit Nirappil and Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report.

US Navy awards rocket motor contract to Ursa Major in supply push

• Medium Text

Make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. Sign up here.

Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington, DC; Writing by David French in New York; editing by Diane Craft

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

Business Chevron

Asia stocks bounce as soaring dollar pauses

Asian stocks made their biggest gains in a month on Thursday, while the dollar took a breather and bond markets steadied as investors stepped back to assess the interest rate outlook.

Concord Chorus, a music and theatrical rights firm, has agreed to acquire British music investor Hipgnosis Songs Fund for $1.40 billion, the companies said on Thursday.