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Finance cages cash

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Emily F. Alley
  • 451 AEW Public Affairs
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  The 451st Air Expeditionary Wing finance office at Kandahar Airfield completed a cashier's cage on Monday, June 6, after about three days of installation by the 451st Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron.

The cage was necessary to protect cashier operations, cash and other equipment. In other areas of the base, similar work might be done by contractors, but the cage was a perfect sized project for the Air Force civil engineers, said project leader Tech. Sgt. Eric E. Walls.

A team of CE welders spent about sixty total hours welding the metal cage from scraps that had been salvaged from around KAF and recycled. A few CE Airmen who deployed to KAF as security forces augmentees even volunteered to help. Master Sergeant Pamela Pistella, a finance supervisor, treated the team to doughnuts and drinks.

Walls worked with Pistella to design the cage after she submitted the original request. Because of limited space and resources, it took creativity and innovation to design the layout of their office. Before she submitted the request, Pistella and the finance office had a meeting to determine what they needed from CE.

"We, as a group, sat down and started throwing out ideas," said Sergeant Pistella. "It was a couple of weeks to go from planning, to paper, to a well-executed professional product."

It was important that the new window not only protect supplies but also offer better customer service. The new window is better positioned for those who walk up to use it.

The cashier, Senior Airman James Reed, works out of the cage all day and doesn't seem to mind that he now has to punch a code into a lock just to get to his desk. He even jokes that he's an exhibit at a zoo- an orangutan because of his red hair.

The project brought their cashier operations into Air Force regulations and even though they did not cite any past attempts to take money, the cage is a deterrent for future problems, said Airman Reed.