One of the top personnel officers 'Spreads the Word'

  • Published
  • By Capt. Renee Lee
  • Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs
HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AFNS) --  Air Force Personnel Center officials sent a team of experts here Oct. 8, launching a global "Spread the Word" campaign to educate Airmen about new and changing personnel and deployment programs.

As part of the two-day Spread the Word visit, Maj. Gen. K.C. McClain, AFPC commander, visited with U.S. Pacific Command and Pacific Air Forces leaders, as well as addressed Airmen at two All Calls at the Hickam theater.

"As we put more things in personnel as self service, we realized we needed to ensure our customer knew there was still a person here to talk to," said General McClain. "AFPC isn't just a Web site...we wanted to come out and give a face to the programs and, more importantly, we wanted to hear from each of you, our customers."

As the AFPC commander, General McClain emphasized that although the way personnel programs are delivered to the force is changing, the programs, themselves, are improving. 

"By placing personnel services online, Personnel Service Delivery transformation, or PSD, allows Airmen to take care of personnel actions at their convenience rather than being tied to a set time or having to wait in line at the [Military Personnel Flight]," she said.  

"For example, if you're working swings or a mid-shift, you don't have to come in on your free time to go to the MPF," General McClain said.

General McClain discussed how PSD, which allows Airmen to use Web-based services like virtual MPF to conduct their routine personnel actions, not only saves time but also provides synergies that enhance support for Airmen and commanders in the field.

"We want everyone to understand that this transformation is driven, in part, to giving time back to Airmen," she said. 

The general further explained that Air Force leaders are trying to mirror the civilian business world's move to on-line services as PSD undergoes transformation.

"When was the last you went to a bank teller?" she asked.  "When was the last time you actually went into the gas station and paid for gas at the counter? You're going to do your business in a manner that's fastest for you. In PSD, we're giving you some choices and options to do personnel tasks in the most efficient and effective manner for you. What we are doing is giving you back mission time."

Aiming to educate and update Airmen on personnel initiatives and PSD, General McClain and her subject matter experts discussed specific personnel and deployment topics at the "Spread the Word" All Call briefings. Topics included enlisted and officer assignments, the new tempo-banding deployment system, 365-day deployment options, assignment changes and civilian hiring procedures. After each briefing, Airmen had the opportunity to ask questions, allowing direct face-to-face access to AFPC personnel.

Master Sgt. Sammy D. Lopez, 15th Communications Squadron client services branch chief, said he attended the briefing to learn more about the assignments system.

"The All Call was helpful because it gave me a better understanding of the assignments process," said Sergeant Lopez. "It gave me faces to associate with the personnelists at Randolph (Air Force Base, Texas)."

Capt. Angelyn Ibe, chief of the sustainment branch and services, education and training at Pacific Air Forces, attended the briefing to learn about personnel updates.

"I wanted to find out about merging career fields and the effects, and about career progression and deployments," Captain Ibe said.

When asked what she thought of the overall Spread the Word briefing, Captain Ibe said she appreciated the efforts of Air Force officials to take care of Airmen after learning about the new tempo banding deployment construct.

"The Air Force is really trying to take care of us," she said. "If they know that you're deployed for six months, they really take care of your personal life. They don't want to shift us around and do back-to-back deployments."

On PSD, Captain Ibe added that "if PSD can make [personnel actions] efficient and without us having questions, I think it makes it easier."

Due to emerging technology such as e-mail and the Internet in the 1990s, AFPC officials took a hiatus from the Spread the Word briefings until launching the current campaign here. General McClain and her team will continue briefing bases across the Air Force in November, December and through 2009.

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