Sailor Meritoriously Promoted at Camp Lemonnier

Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Jared Walker | CAMP LEMONNIER, Djibouti – Master-at-Arms Seaman Xavier LaCouture, was meritoriously promoted to the rank of petty officer third class during a frocking ceremony here, July 02, 2018. LaCouture was promoted under the Navy’s Meritorious Advancement Program, which gives commanders the opportunity to recognize their best Sailors by advancing them when they are ready for the next level of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jared E. Walker).  

CAMP LEMONNIER , DJIBOUTI

08.09.2018

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jared Walker 

Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti

CAMP LEMONNIER, Djibouti – The Meritorious Advancement Program (MAP) authorizes commanding officers (COs) to advance eligible personnel in paygrades E5 and below to the next higher paygrade.

Master-at-Arms 3rd Class Xavier LaCouture, a military working dog handler at Camp Lemonnier, was advanced under MAP to his current rank during a frocking ceremony held at Camp Lemonnier, July 2.

“Being promoted to third class came as a total surprise,” said LaCouture. “I never thought this would happen to me. This showed me that the hard work that I did at my home command was really appreciated.”

According to the Chief of Naval Personnel, Vice Adm. R.P. Burke, MAP is part of Sailor 2025, which is a continuous effort to modernize personnel systems and processes.

To ensure communities remain healthy, commands that wish to nominate a Sailor in a controlled rate must submit their request via their chain of command to their Echelon 2 commands for consideration.

Camp Lemonnier leadership worked with LaCouture’s home command, Naval Air Station Corpus Christy, Texas, to ensure the process was properly executed.

According to Camp Lemonnier’s Command Master Chief Jon H. Morton, getting LaCouture promoted was a group effort.

“LaCouture’s command master chief back home reached out to me because he knew that he was here at Camp Lemonnier,” said Morton. “We coordinated and we set it up.”

Sailors can only be meritoriously advanced one paygrade and can only be meritoriously advanced once during the 2018 fiscal year MAP season. Those in a frocked status are not eligible for advancement to the next higher paygrade until they have been effectively advanced.

The MAP process involves all levels of the chain of command, but ultimately, commanders make the final decision.

LaCouture reached back to his chain of command back home after he was promoted to thank them.

“Now that I am a third class petty officer, I have more responsibilities, such as leading younger Sailors to be more successful,” said LaCouture. “This is something that I really can’t wait to do.”

LaCouture’s supervisor, Kennel Master, Master-at-Arms 1st Class Justin Dunn, said that he had the support of his chain of command back home.

“MA3 LaCouture stands out from among his peers,” said Dunn. “He is a hard charging and level-headed Sailor who is mission focused. If anyone should be promoted to the next rank, it’s LaCouture.”

LaCouture said that he is ready to carry out the duties of his new rank.
Specific information about the MAP process can be found in NAVADMIN 109/18.

Camp Lemonnier is one of Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia, installations that conducts six lines of operations to support air operations, port operations, safety, security, quality of life, and what is called the core: the fuels, water and power that keep the bases operating.

Camp Lemonnier’s mission includes enabling joint warfighters operating forward and to reinforce the U.S. – Djibouti relationship by providing exceptional services and facilities for the tenant commands, transient U.S. assets and service members.

• Date Taken: 08.09.2018
• Date Posted: 08.09.2018 11:15
• Story ID: 287958
• Location: CAMP LEMONNIER , DJ