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379th ECES Customer Service: CE’s front door to the installation

  • Published
  • By Capt. Wayne Henry
  • 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  It is 2 a.m. and an air conditioner failure at Special Operations Command Central Forward Headquarters has led to rising temperatures, prompting an emergency server load shed - threatening missions throughout the area of responsibility.

There is only one team that can quickly grasp the situation, get the experts on site to repair the system and defend the mission. Those experts make up a team of dedicated professionals who embody their duty title, 'operations management;' the 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineering's Customer Service team.

For a base with nearly 9,000 residents and more than 1,500 facilities, the 379th ECES's Customer Service team is the point of contact for all facility and infrastructure concerns.

"In the month of August alone, customer service received approximately 4,000 service calls and more than 1,000 work orders," said Tech. Sgt. Aimee Sandifer, 379th ECES customer service noncommissioned officer in charge deployed from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. "Compared to a typical base stateside that may get 100 calls in a month, you can quickly see the daunting task we face daily."

However, Sandifer isn't alone. She manages a team of eight professionals who provide coverage to the customer service lines 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Their work ethic speaks for itself. They directly contributed to the successful completion of 95 percent of the base's work orders on time in the month of August. This team pulled together and demonstrated the meaning of teamwork.

One of the most important skills for a customer service team member is the ability to effectively communicate in order to understand the customer's needs and concerns. When customer service takes a call, they focus on the level of impact the issue has on daily operations and then determine what civil engineer shop has the expertise necessary to resolve the problem.

There are three levels for response by Air Force Instruction: emergency, urgent, and routine. Emergencies are for critical issues that will affect the mission or entire facilities and require immediate response. Urgent work orders are for significant issues that overtime, may affect the mission or portions of facilities requiring response within seven days. Routines require response within 30 days and are for general-purpose maintenance.

Facility managers also play a key role with Civil Engineers and Customer Service. "The facility manager is the preferred point of contact for customer service calls in order to reduce miscommunication and prevent duplicate work orders," said Tech. Sgt. Darrell McGirt from Grand Forks AFB, N.D. "Trained facility managers should be able to resolve the majority of simple day to day issues, such as changing light bulbs under 10 feet or repairing door jams."

Facility managers are appointed by their squadron commanders and are required to attend facility manager training. This training is led monthly by the customer service team to educate them on their roles and responsibilities.

The 379th ECES has nearly 600 dedicated professionals committed to enabling the missions of all organizations on base in air, space and cyberspace. Customers should contact customer service for any infrastructure issues. Contact customer service at 437-2154 or 437-2150 or visit them at Bldg. 8111 in Logistics Town.