Finance Problems

[Ram]

Apparently nobody at our Finance office is aware that officers are supposed to get a one time clothing allowance when we commission. I spent over an hour sitting at a desk while 4 or 5 different people tried to figure out how I get my $400. The final conclusion was that the regs do say I'm entitled to the allowance(thanks I knew that, that's why I came) but that nobody knows how to actually get it to me. All they had was a form that was last updated in 1991 that they didn't know how to fill out. Anybody commissioned recently enough that could help me out on this one? I've talked to 2 people who said they got it automatically when at ASBC(which I haven't been to yet) and another LT who's been here over a year now and he just gave up because he could never get finance to figure it out.

YGBSM.

Imagine one day I just forget how to fly an ILS. "Hell, I KNOW that I am SUPPOSED to fly one of these things...but I can't remember how..."

Sounds like it's time to get your commander/supervisor involved. Sorry I can't help ya out with this one.

[Guest Bender]

During my first assignment I got ahold of the form and filled it out myself. It required my military supervisor's signature. The lowest ranking military member in my chain what the O-6.

So...do do do...I made and appointment with his sec and strolled in...exchanged all the "How you doin's" and told him why I had stopped in to visit that morning. He said something to the effect, "Well, I can't remember that far back, have never seen this form in my entire life, but *scribble,* here you go."

I bounced to Finance where they took it, stared at it...asked me what it was...told them it was a 400 dollar check that the O-6 had just written out to me and took it. Two weeks later I never heard anything. Called Finance and asked, they said they weren't sure what to do with it, but were "processing" it.

I went back to my O-6 and told them that and he called the other O-6, exchanged the "how you doin's" and asked what the big problem was. He cuffed the phone, looked at me and asked, "This is in a reg, right?" I nodded. He resumed his conversation, which lasted all of 2 minutes.

It was included in the next paycheck.

Can't remember the number of the form though, but you could find it online, I'm sure.

Ahhh...memories.

BENDY

[MilitaryToFinance]

During my first assignment I got ahold of the form and filled it out myself. It required my military supervisor's signature. The lowest ranking military member in my chain what the O-6.

So...do do do...I made and appointment with his sec and strolled in...exchanged all the "How you doin's" and told him why I had stopped in to visit that morning. He said something to the effect, "Well, I can't remember that far back, have never seen this form in my entire life, but *scribble,* here you go."

I bounced to Finance where they took it, stared at it...asked me what it was...told them it was a 400 dollar check that the O-6 had just written out to me and took it. Two weeks later I never heard anything. Called Finance and asked, they said they weren't sure what to do with it, but were "processing" it.

I went back to my O-6 and told them that and he called the other O-6, exchanged the "how you doin's" and asked what the big problem was. He cuffed the phone, looked at me and asked, "This is in a reg, right?" I nodded. He resumed his conversation, which lasted all of 2 minutes.

It was included in the next paycheck.

Can't remember the number of the form though, but you could find it online, I'm sure.

Ahhh...memories.

BENDY

Thanks. This was all I was able to find, I guess I'll fill it out and see what happens.

http://www.arpc.afrc.af.mil/shared/media/d...-070430-032.pdf

[Guest Bender]

That's the one I filled out.

BENDY

[VFR800]

+1 -- I also filled out this form to get mine...this was a few months ago.

[Scooter14]

I just got an amendment to an order (went to the ICAS conference in Las Vages) authorizing more than max lodging (max lodging $105, lodging at the conference $119).

Anyway, the original voucher paid with a note "we can pay you the difference, get an amendment authorizing AEA and submit a supplemental". So I did. Get up to finance and they said I needed a supervisor to sign it.

My question is this...on the back of all our orders, it says:

//SIGNED//

(Insert Ops Group Commander's name here) XXX OG/CC

So, if the fucking O-6 approved and authorized my travel and the reimbuirsement of said expenses, why do I have to get a signature on my voucher and, even more so, a sig on the supplemental that finance advised me to do? Also, why is MPF/Orderly Room/the member constantly questioned by finance when the O-6 approved everything?

It's frustrating, the whole process.

[Guest C-21 Pilot]

Finance,

Before we get too far off topic, why the did the Finance Office here at McChord DIS-IN-CONNECT their phone number?

Anyway before you go up our pay entitlements can you go un the finance office themselves here at TCM?

**NOTE** - have about 10 Murphy's in me....in' pissed because I can be....rant off.

[JarheadBoom]

My question is this...on the back of all our orders, it says:

//SIGNED//

(Insert Ops Group Commander's name here) XXX OG/CC

So, if the fucking O-6 approved and authorized my travel and the reimbuirsement of said expenses, why do I have to get a signature on my voucher and, even more so, a sig on the supplemental that finance advised me to do? Also, why is MPF/Orderly Room/the member constantly questioned by finance when the O-6 approved everything?

I was just recently told that our Finance office has been informed by Ellsworth that the signature on the back of orders (flight or TDY) doesn't mean anything, thus the demands for additional documentation/autographs. Also, judging by the runaround one of our crews is experiencing, apparently the "Variations Authorized" box being checked means nothing anymore either.

W T F ????

[Champ Kind]

Unless you are flying on, a commercial aircraft, "variations" should ALWAYS be "authorized" PERIOD, DOT. Hell, even on some TDYs where you do fly commercial variations may still occur, and therefore need to be "authorized" in advanced.

It seriously makes me angry how inept the Finance career field as a whole seems to be.

TWO MONTHS to pay out CZTE/HFP

Over-paying due to an error in the "system" and refusing to take the money back all at once, instead resorting to deducting it from my pay for months on end

Inability to answer any (A N Y) questions about how their ominous "system" works

This is just a small example of the ass-hattery I've seen with these people. I seriously do not leave/hang up with finance without having a rank/name of who I dealt with, because it invariably gets screwed up. At least then I can ask for that specific person and hold them personally accountable (assuming they aren't "on leave" or "attending training", as per their coworkers).

I've said it before (on here, and in a finance office), but if Ops did our jobs the way that Finance did theirs, there would be more smoldering holes in the ground than tails on the ramp.

[pawnman]

Unless you are flying on, a commercial aircraft, "variations" should ALWAYS be "authorized" PERIOD, DOT. Hell, even on some TDYs where you do fly commercial variations may still occur, and therefore need to be "authorized" in advanced.

It seriously makes me angry how inept the Finance career field as a whole seems to be.

TWO MONTHS to pay out CZTE/HFP

Over-paying due to an error in the "system" and refusing to take the money back all at once, instead resorting to deducting it from my pay for months on end

Inability to answer any (A N Y) questions about how their ominous "system" works

This is just a small example of the ass-hattery I've seen with these people. I seriously do not leave/hang up with finance without having a rank/name of who I dealt with, because it invariably gets screwed up. At least then I can ask for that specific person and hold them personally accountable (assuming they aren't "on leave" or "attending training", as per their coworkers).

I've said it before (on here, and in a finance office), but if Ops did our jobs the way that Finance did theirs, there would be more smoldering holes in the ground than tails on the ramp.

Our intel officer had the same thing happen to her. She was being paid the $80/day per diem when she was deployed, and she knew that was a problem...so she went to finance, checkbook and pay stubs in hand, and told them the problem. They said they hadn't overpaid her. She reattacked every week for about two months before giving up. She even got a memo from finance, signed by the finance CC that "This officer was not overpaid during the past deployment" or some similar wording.

Six months later, finance wakes up and realizes that they have, indeed, overpaid her and they need the money, NOW. They tell her the memo she got from finance is worthless, because they were wrong when they wrote it. Luckily, she had squirreled all this cash away because she knew this was coming. She wrote them a check, got a memo signed that said she'd paid it. She got the check back in the mail after it had been processed.

Guess what happened a few months later? Finance starts bugging her "because she hasn't paid this yet". She walks in with the reciept and the cancelled check..."That's not enough proof, we need more". She eventually had to go not only to her commander, but to his commander (a 1-star), who was STILL given the run around for weeks before this problem was fixed.

[joe1234]

Our intel officer had the same thing happen to her. She was being paid the $80/day per diem when she was deployed, and she knew that was a problem...so she went to finance, checkbook and pay stubs in hand, and told them the problem. They said they hadn't overpaid her. She reattacked every week for about two months before giving up. She even got a memo from finance, signed by the finance CC that "This officer was not overpaid during the past deployment" or some similar wording.

Six months later, finance wakes up and realizes that they have, indeed, overpaid her and they need the money, NOW. They tell her the memo she got from finance is worthless, because they were wrong when they wrote it. Luckily, she had squirreled all this cash away because she knew this was coming. She wrote them a check, got a memo signed that said she'd paid it. She got the check back in the mail after it had been processed.

Guess what happened a few months later? Finance starts bugging her "because she hasn't paid this yet". She walks in with the reciept and the cancelled check..."That's not enough proof, we need more". She eventually had to go not only to her commander, but to his commander (a 1-star), who was STILL given the run around for weeks before this problem was fixed.

Hmmm, I'm going to buy a video camera, and do like the intel officer in the example, and get everything in audio, video, and writing. That way, when they try to tell me something that's blatantly wrong, I can make a video of them being blatantly wrong. Sure it won't achieve anything but it'll be pretty funny.

Making an honest mistake is one thing, but if you sit there and act like you KNOW you're right, while feeding me bullshit, I will make it a personal side-project of mine to embarass the hell out of you for some cheap laughs.

Edited January 4, 2009 by joe1234

[Boxhead]

Hmmm, I'm going to buy a video camera, and do like the intel officer in the example, and get everything in audio, video, and writing. That way, when they try to tell me something that's blatantly wrong, I can make a video of them being blatantly wrong. Sure it won't achieve anything but it'll be pretty funny.

Actually, just simply giving them some paperwork/asking a question, whatever...and asking for their name and writing it down in front of them so they see you do it....that little act of giving up my time has increased my success at finance from about 50% to about 95%....the military may just have something there with that whole accountability breeds responsibility thing.

[Slander]

So I go to check the last payment in December, hoping to see the flight pay for the last couple months that Finance owes me (and hasn't started yet) and what do I find? My check is short by 2/3. Well, after I did some investigating it turns out that they hadn't inprocessed me when i gave them all 69 copies of my orders and filled out every form in triplicate and watched them tap-tap away on their computer with it. So I received my old BAH instead of none for living in the luxurious VOQ accommodations. And they paid me DLA, which apparently I'm not entitled to even though I was, in fact, dislocated.

So now, on top of them owing me some $$$ for flight pay (not much, I know, but it's the principle), I owe them my DLA back (except they'll repay it to me if I get to move off base within 120 days if the sq/cc approves DLA, allegedly) and I owe them the BAH back. I wonder when I'll reap the benefits of that big raise we all got starting this month...maybe in June after they finish garnishing my wages like a convict.

The more I read the above stories and deal with this newly "efficiently centralized finance system" (which it took 6 weeks to pay me for my last TDY) I just keep comparing it to any fortune 500 company. If the HR department screwed the pooch this often or had this many complex rules I don't think it would last long.

I know, shut up and color LT, I got that, and I'm happy to, just as long as I'm getting paid accordingly (and correctly). Is that so fvcking much to ask?

Boxhead -- I'm definitely using that plan of yours in finance, MPF, comm, anywhere else I have to fill out paperwork.

/rant.

[Bergman]

Actually, just simply giving them some paperwork/asking a question, whatever...and asking for their name and writing it down in front of them so they see you do it....that little act of giving up my time has increased my success at finance from about 50% to about 95%....the military may just have something there with that whole accountability breeds responsibility thing.

I concur! It took me a while, but I finally stumbled upon this technique years ago and it works like magic. I have also found that if it does not work, being polite and asking to see their NCOIC, Superintendent, or OIC usually does the trick.

[Finance_Guy]

I was just recently told that our Finance office has been informed by Ellsworth that the signature on the back of orders (flight or TDY) doesn't mean anything, thus the demands for additional documentation/autographs. Also, judging by the runaround one of our crews is experiencing, apparently the "Variations Authorized" box being checked means nothing anymore either.

W T F ????

Show your finance this from their AFI on the variations. Per para 2.4.5.3, if the original orders listed variations, then then if those changes in referenced paragraphs apply, then no amendment or statement is required. If the orders didn't have variations, then the orders approving official (AO) must approve after the fact.

NOTE: However, remember all vouchers have to be signed by supervisor as a minimum. The voucher can be signed by an orders AO instead of a supervisor. This requirement is in the DoDFMR Volume 9, Chapter 5. 050201. Accountable Official Responsibilities. http://www.defenselink.mil/comptroller/fmr/09/09_05.pdf

C. Approving Officials--2. Approve travel claims.

F. Supervisory Review

--1. Review, sign, and date all travel claims for military and civilian personnel.

--2. Submit the travel claim to the appropriate travel computation office for processing prior to payment.

2.4.5. FSO's may use a statement from the order-issuing official instead of an amended order to effect proper payment when the traveler:

2.4.5.1. Adds or omits travel to places stated in the order

2.4.5.2. Changes the order of continuity of places shown, or

2.4.5.3. Changes the original specified time duration at a place stated in the order, provided the

change is within total time limits. No amendment or statement is required for the changes in 2.4.5.1. through 2.4.5.3. if itinerary variations are authorized.

On the other issue of signatures on the backs of the orders. For one, my understanding is the flight orders can no longer be used for travel voucher payment. Especially for reserves--AFRC requires the DD FM 1610. Not sure of what other signatures would be on the back of the DD FM 1610. Signatures on the voucher are required per my previous note.

[Bergman]

Show your finance this from their AFI on the variations. Per para 2.4.5.3, if the original orders listed variations, then then if those changes in referenced paragraphs apply, then no amendment or statement is required. If the orders didn't have variations, then the orders approving official (AO) must approve after the fact.

NOTE: However, remember all vouchers have to be signed by supervisor as a minimum. The voucher can be signed by an orders AO instead of a supervisor. This requirement is in the DoDFMR Volume 9, Chapter 5. 050201. Accountable Official Responsibilities. http://www.defenselink.mil/comptroller/fmr/09/09_05.pdf

C. Approving Officials--2. Approve travel claims.

F. Supervisory Review

--1. Review, sign, and date all travel claims for military and civilian personnel.

--2. Submit the travel claim to the appropriate travel computation office for processing prior to payment.

2.4.5. FSO's may use a statement from the order-issuing official instead of an amended order to effect proper payment when the traveler:

2.4.5.1. Adds or omits travel to places stated in the order

2.4.5.2. Changes the order of continuity of places shown, or

2.4.5.3. Changes the original specified time duration at a place stated in the order, provided the

change is within total time limits. No amendment or statement is required for the changes in 2.4.5.1. through 2.4.5.3. if itinerary variations are authorized.

On the other issue of signatures on the backs of the orders. For one, my understanding is the flight orders can no longer be used for travel voucher payment. Especially for reserves--AFRC requires the DD FM 1610. Not sure of what other signatures would be on the back of the DD FM 1610. Signatures on the voucher are required per my previous note.

PLEASE tell me you had to look up all of those references!? If not, you need to get out more!

Beyond that, thanks for the insight. You just might be the first willingly helpful and knowledgeable finance person I have run across.

[Toro]

and asking for their name and writing it down in front of them so they see you do it....that little act of giving up my time has increased my success at finance from about 50% to about 95%....the military may just have something there with that whole accountability breeds responsibility thing.

Concur.

Finance completely fuggered up my pay when I PCS'd here.

First they 'forgot' to stop COLA payment from my previous assignment and had to take back a month's worth.

At the same time they 'forgot' to pay me COLA for my new location.

Then I had to resubmit TDY orders to get FSP that I was due.

Then they CNX'd the combat zone entitlements I had already been paid from my previous assignment.

Apparently (Finance Guy, please confirm or deny) your entitlements (with the exception of tax free) stop the day PRIOR to departing the combat zone. In my case, I left on the morning of 1 Sep and was originally paid HFP, HDP, and FSP. A month later, Finance realized this and (without bothering to do so much as send me a simple email) withdrew several hundred dollars. Had I left on the second of September, I would have been able to keep it. Lesson learned - if you have an option between leaving on the 1st or 2nd and want to make a couple hundred bucks....stay until the second.

[Finance_Guy]

Concur.

Finance completely fuggered up my pay when I PCS'd here.

First they 'forgot' to stop COLA payment from my previous assignment and had to take back a month's worth.

At the same time they 'forgot' to pay me COLA for my new location.

Then I had to resubmit TDY orders to get FSP that I was due.

Then they CNX'd the combat zone entitlements I had already been paid from my previous assignment.

Apparently (Finance Guy, please confirm or deny) your entitlements (with the exception of tax free) stop the day PRIOR to departing the combat zone. In my case, I left on the morning of 1 Sep and was originally paid HFP, HDP, and FSP. A month later, Finance realized this and (without bothering to do so much as send me a simple email) withdrew several hundred dollars. Had I left on the second of September, I would have been able to keep it. Lesson learned - if you have an option between leaving on the 1st or 2nd and want to make a couple hundred bucks....stay until the second.

Hey Toro. Sorry about all your finance woes. I do know for FSP (Family Sep--right?), a DD FM 1561 and a copy of orders attached are required after the TDY. If you turned in the 1561 with your voucher, then I see no need for more orders.

On your combat zone (CZ), first I've heard of this entitlement stopping the day prior to departing. Based on what I know, if you were on the ground in a CZ on 1 Sep, then you are due the IDP/CZTE entitlements for that area for the whole month of Sep. HDP and FSP are paid on a daily rate basis. HDP-L stops the day prior since you are leaving the hardship duty area and cannot be paid a full days worth. FSA stops the day prior to arriving back to your PDS.

Below are some reg references you can show finance. Ask them to show you in the reg where IDP/CZTE stops the day prior to departure from that area--I'll bet they cannot find it.

http://www.defenselink.mil/comptroller/fmr/07a/07a_10.pdf

100102. Payment. ......It is payable in the full amount without being prorated or reduced, for each month, during any part of which, a member qualifies. Active and Reserve Component members who qualify, at any time during a month, will receive the full amount of HFP/IDP regardless of the actual period of time served on active or inactive duty during that month.

[Chuck17]

Finance Guy,

Im not sure if everyone here knows how lucky we are to have you post on this forum - its like having an inside man... You have my thanks and many more Im sure - you just dont get this kind of attention, at least in my previous experience, when dealing with them directly.

Chuck

[Herk Driver]

Finance Guy,

Im not sure if everyone here knows how lucky we are to have you post on this forum - its like having an inside man... You have my thanks and many more Im sure - you just dont get this kind of attention, at least in my previous experience, when dealing with them directly.

Chuck

2

Now to add my $.02. I was TDY this summer and should have been paid FSA. Didn't happen. Actually my finance is one of the best finance offices that I have ever dealt with. The guy over there re-filed the paperwork after talking to "The Center" without me having to lift a finger. Should have gotten it in EOM pay for Nov. Didn't happen. Several phone calls later (by finance, not me), still nothing. Let me add that it took over a month to get paid. I have never had a DTS voucher not get paid in a week (or so).

Conclusion: The consolidated finance center is an abysmal failure.

Edited January 5, 2009 by Herk Driver

[JarheadBoom]

Finance Guy - thanks for the references. I'm printing them out to keep in my orders/receipts folio for when I have to go fight the next money battle.

On the other issue of signatures on the backs of the orders. For one, my understanding is the flight orders can no longer be used for travel voucher payment. Especially for reserves--AFRC requires the DD FM 1610. Not sure of what other signatures would be on the back of the DD FM 1610. Signatures on the voucher are required per my previous note.

We're required to submit a copy, front and back, of the flight orders in addition to the 1610 and all the other stuff. This is Ellsworth's rule.

On the signatures note - our Finance office at McGuire was told, by Ellsworth, that the signatures on the back of the flight orders, certifying that gov't meals were not available/would adversely affect the mission, NO LONGER MATTER. THAT is what I have a problem with. Ellsworth wasn't TDY with me - who are they to tell me whether I could've made the chowhall or not while staying within AFI 11-2KC-10V3 regulations for crew rest?

There are WAY too many of your coworkers who apparently don't have a clue that there's a significant portion of the Air Force that operates independently of the chowhall's hours.

[pawnman]

Actually, just simply giving them some paperwork/asking a question, whatever...and asking for their name and writing it down in front of them so they see you do it....that little act of giving up my time has increased my success at finance from about 50% to about 95%....the military may just have something there with that whole accountability breeds responsibility thing.

Didn't work for our intel officer...

[budderbar]

My solution went a step further than Boxhead's, by necessity: bring in a typed, itemized 1297 (Air Force hand receipt), and make the finance clerk sign receipt of every document that is handed over, with a date.

That's awesome, I would love to see the reaction this would have MPF wide; Forced attention to detail by personal accountability.

[Finance_Guy]

Finance Guy,

Im not sure if everyone here knows how lucky we are to have you post on this forum - its like having an inside man... You have my thanks and many more Im sure - you just dont get this kind of attention, at least in my previous experience, when dealing with them directly.

Chuck

Thanks Chuck. Nice to know some appreciate what my intentions are in these forums--mainly to provide correct communication of proper entitlements and procedures. Something that appears to be lacking throughout the Air Force. I'm hoping this forum reaches out and touches the masses. Of course I do have my own opinions and all that but hate when people mention that "FM folks act like it's their money or something"--I think I've said it before...that's the purpose of FM. They work for the base comptroller who's boss is the Wing CC. If there was no "Check" in the system who knows what we'd see.

Again, thanks.

Edit: Note: Most all money is owned and controlled by the Wing CC, so if FM'ers work for the base comptroller who is in charge of the Wing King's money, then I guess one could say to a certain extent, the money is Finance's. And we all are taxpayers, so in the big picture sense, the money spent is all of ours.

Edited January 7, 2009 by Finance_Guy

[nsplayr]

Not quite finance but personnel and support related. New story from AF times...best quotes highlighted with sarcastic comments added

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/01/..._course_011009/

Class fills void left by personnelist cuts

By Erik Holmes - Staff writer

Posted : Saturday Jan 10, 2009 7:49:36 EST

RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas — The Air Force Personnel Center is launching a course to teach squadron commanders what they need to know about the personnel business in order to effectively manage the airmen under their command.

The course will train about 240 squadron commanders per year by bringing them to AFPC at Randolph for 4½ days and allowing them to learn from the Air Force’s personnel experts.

4.5 days! Holy sh*t...they'll be experts by the time they're done with that rigorous training!

Lt. Col. James Costey, the course administrator and chief of the Personnel Services Directorate’s action group at AFPC, said most new squadron commanders find themselves in charge of airmen’s careers but have little or no experience with personnel issues.

“Guys who have grown up as a maintainer, as a cop, as a comm guy, as a pilot, do so without really doing anything in personnel, and now they are responsible,” he said. “There are a lot of guys who don’t fully understand how the [personnel] processes work. And so we try to provide that insight to them.”

AFPC conducted a trial run of the class for 39 commanders Nov. 2-6 at Randolph. The first official run of the course will take place during the last week of January, with classes running every other month — a total of six times per year — after that.

One of the first officers to go through the course was Col. (Dr.) Mary Pelszynski, commander of the 59th Maternal/Child Care Squadron at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. She said the course gave her an understanding of the personnel system she never gained as a clinical and training doctor.

“I knew how to teach a resident how to become a pediatrician, but when it came down to personnel issues that dealt with the enlisted force, the noncommissioned officers, the officer force, these were all foreign and new to me,” Pelszynski said. “This course was superb in ... giving me the tools that I need to effectively counsel airmen and ... get them the correct guidance that they really need.”

Perfect example...this Col. is great at her job (training doctors) but didn't know squat about personnel decisions. Instead of training up and paying someone at the A1C or SSgt level, nah, let's make the Col. learn more things that will distract her from doing the job she was trained for and is paid to do.

There are about 2,000 squadron commanders in the Air Force, so not every commander will get to attend the course. Costey said the 240 slots per year will be divvied up among the major commands and Air Force agencies proportional to their size.

Large commands, such as Air Combat Command, may get several slots per class, for example, while small organizations such as the Air Force Weather Agency might get only one per year. It will be up to leaders of the commands and organizations to decide who will attend the course.

Costey said AFPC leaders want to bring in relatively new squadron commanders — usually lieutenant colonels — who have gotten their feet wet in their jobs but still have plenty of time left in their assignments.

“Ideally, we’re looking for guys with in between two and six months ... as commanders,” he said. By “then they know a little bit about what they don’t know.”

Despite the limited number of slots, AFPC officials said they hope to extend the reach of the course by encouraging those who attend to share what they learn with other commanders when they return to their bases.

Filling a need

The idea for the course grew out of the recognition that, because of the reduction in the number of personnelists, commanders no longer have the level of support they once had, said Col. Bill Foote, AFPC’s director of personnel services.

Between 2006 and the end of 2008, the Air Force cut more than 2,000 personnel positions — more than 20 percent of its personnelists. And beginning in early 2008, the Air Force pulled personnelists out of commanders’ orderly rooms and consolidated them into mission support squadrons and force support squadrons.

Suddenly, officers who had little experience with the personnel world were in charge of numerous processes that would affect their airmen’s careers for years down the road. Those processes include everything from performance evaluations to making recommendations for professional military education or special assignments.

So the Air Force is now acknowledging that they're putting the burden of career-changing decision making on Squadron Commanders who really have no idea WTF they are talking about? Nice. And it's not the CC's fault. He/she was trained to drop bombs/fix planes/etc., I don't expect them to fully know whether it's a good idea for me to AFIT/The Zoo/PME/etc. right now or not...

Pelszynski said personnel tasks consume 30 percent to 40 percent of her time, and she had no personnel training before taking command in 2007 and no personnelist to help her learn the ropes.

Wow...great use of time. Instead of supporting commanders by providing a subject matter expert, the AF is taking up 30-40% of their time with BS. I'd say those numbers are low even.

“I had no concept of the personnel center. ... When I started command, I was really flying by the seat of my pants,” she said.

But Costey said it is critical that new commanders catch on quickly.

“We try to provide that insight to them so they can really see the relationship between an [officer performance report] you write on a captain when he goes to his colonel’s board [years later] and an [enlisted performance report] you write on a staff sergeant when he’s trying to make senior master sergeant,” Costey said.

The course touches on all aspects of personnel issues. Representatives from AFPC’s directorates provide briefings and answer questions about assignments, promotions, evaluations, Air Force casualty information, the Air and Space Expeditionary Force construct, force development and civilian programs, among other topics. The commanders also get a tour of the Air Force Contact Center, the call center that fields personnel questions.

Costey said AFPC officials are able to draw on the vast expertise of its staff so no questions go unanswered in the course.

“One of the advantages of having it here versus ... anywhere else ... is we’ve got 2,000 experts in this building,” Costey said.

AHHH...this article made me want to pull my hair out. Even as a younger guy I can see that when the boss doesn't have enough support or info to make the right decisions, he can't make the right decisions unless he's unusually talented and resourceful.