Medical codes no longer prevent some deployments Published Oct. 7, 2011 By Jon Hanson Air Force Personnel, Services and Manpower Public Affairs RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Air Force officials have approved expanding the deployment opportunities for Airmen who typically had limited opportunities to deploy in support of air and space expeditionary force operations. Last month, the 602nd Training Group Provisional at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., began accepting Airmen with restrictive deployment availability codes to fill openings in its operations center and at training detachments. "The overarching intent is to support 2nd Air Force without reducing the Air Force's ability to meet combatant commander requirements," said Col. Henry Polczer, the director of AEF and Personnel Operations at the Air Force Personnel Center. "We will accomplish this by sourcing to a name those Airmen who would otherwise not be able to deploy." The 602nd TRG (P) provides support to Airmen attending Army combat skills training, combat Airman skills training and the basic combat convoy course, officials said. These courses provide Airmen specific training to prepare them for their deployment and meet the needs of the combatant commander. The AEF and Personnel Operations directorate will use the Military Personnel Data System to source those individuals with deployment availability codes which makes them normally unavailable for worldwide deployments. "The use of MilPDS to source these individuals is relatively new," said Wanda Davies, the deputy chief of scheduling division for AEF and Personnel Operations. "It is usually done by sourcing to the unit type code which requires the commander to select personnel from their unit to fill the AEF requirement." The key is for those Airmen with medical DAV codes, and their supervisors, to understand they might be selected for stateside taskings and to be prepared, Davies said. These Airmen will either work in the 602nd TRG (P) operations center or at one of the training detachments. This new selection process currently covers approximately 100 requirements. For more information about the AEF process, visit AEF Online at https://aef.afpc.randolph.af.mil. To get information about personnel issues, visit the Air Force personnel services website at https://gum-crm.csd.disa.mil.