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No money, no mission: 332 AEW FM holds the purse strings

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Phillip Butterfield
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq --  Joint Base Balad is the largest military base in Iraq and along with its size comes an immense need for supplies and money. Luckily, JBB has an office to keep servicemembers and base finances out of the red.

The 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Financial Management Office is responsible for the flow of money to fund base requirements and assist servicemembers with financial issues that may arise while deployed.

"Here at JBB, like at most air bases, there are two sides to every financial management office," said Master Sergeant Keith Munroe, the budget NCO in charge. "There's the customer service section, which is the public part, that helps Airmen with questions about financial issues. Then there's the budget side that deals with accounting and budgeting."

The budget side supplies funds for mission requirements, including operational maintenance, construction projects, and supplies and equipment for flightline and medical Airmen, added Sergeant Munroe a Long Island, N.Y. native.

JBB's budget, which includes Kirkuk Regional Air Base for 2010, is approximately $73 million and this money funds base requirements. The majority of the funding goes towards construction and services to sustain the infrastructure of JBB.

"One of our biggest customers is the expeditionary civil engineer squadron," said Sergeant Munroe. "Between facility repairs, construction projects and services like custodial services, CE consumes nearly two-thirds of our budget. We also work very closely with the Regional Contracting Center. Once FM provides the funding, RCC awards the contracts, and then we pay the bills."

Equally important to the success of the mission is finance's customer service section. This section assists servicemembers that maintain and use the items that the base budget funds.

"We provide customer service for all the Airmen here at JBB and approximately a half dozen other forward operating bases and air bases in Iraq," said Senior Airman Veronica Smith, a customer service representative and a native of Bridgeport, Conn. "We help start their entitlements as well as coordinate with their home station finance office to correct any military pay issues that may arise, so they can focus on their mission, not their paycheck."

Undoubtedly, the financial management office is one of the most important functions on base when it comes to funding mission requirements and reducing Airmen's financial concerns.

"No money, no mission is a popular saying in financial management," said Sergeant Munroe. "Without the financial management office, there's no money to buy all the items that keep the mission moving forward."