EFSF takes care of accountability, manpower, Airmen’s quality of life

Published Jan. 12, 2010
By Staff Sgt. Angelique N. Smythe
451st AEW Public Affairs

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- The 451st Expeditionary Force Support Flight consists of the Personnel Support for Contingency Operations, Manpower and Services career fields and provides personnel support to more than 2,500 Airmen within Regional Commands West and South in Afghanistan.

The team's primary responsibilities include accountability, casualty reporting, manpower services, lodging recreation and limited fitness.

"It's a combined effort on three different fronts," said 1st Lt. Kimberly Duarte, 451st EFSF commander.

Senior Master Sgt. Deron Warman, 451st EFSF superintendent, said the flight's most important job is accountability, keeping track of where all Air Force personnel are located. This, he said, is their biggest challenge as they must have eyes on 23 forward operating locations and know who's supposed to be where, when they get there and when they leave.

A more emotionally challenging job for the PERSCO team is notifying next-of-kin after a casualty.

"That's a huge challenge we've learned to overcome since we've been here, unfortunately," said Sergeant Warman.

"We have to make sure we notify next-of-kin in a timely manner," said Lieutenant Duarte. "We make sure we get the (killed in action or wounded in action) report up to Air Force Forces Command and the Air Force Personnel Center. AFPC will notify the casualty reporting team and they go out within twelve hours to notify the family."

The PERSCO team has supported 10 casualty notifications here.

Another important responsibility is making sure everyone has a place to stay, eat and sleep. This is taken care of by the services team.

"Locally, here on Kandahar, we support approximately 1,400 Airmen with lodging, meal cards and recreation events," Sergeant Warman said. "I think the easiest thing we do is try to provide recreation support to our folks to give them a chance to sit down and relax."

Master Sgt. Haywood Miller, who leads the services team as the Lodging/Recreation superintendent, said their job is to give Airmen an outlet and ways to reduce stress by providing activities that Airmen can get involved in during their off time and without constantly going straight from work back to home each day.

"Right now we have events going on five nights a week and movie nights on the sixth night," he said. "I think we have a positive impact on morale here, although we do have some limiting factors. It would be a lot better if we could find a way to get more involvement in our activities."
Sergeant Miller mentioned it's usually hard to get the many Airmen who live in the tents at South Park, which is a good distance from the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing Camp Samek compound, back out after work to participate in their activities.

"Sergeant Miller has made a tremendous difference for our flight," said Lieutenant Duarte. "We've lodged over 2,500 personnel here -- transient and permanent -- and we've increased morale activities three-fold."

Senior Master Sgt. Sidney McIntosh, Manpower analyst, manages the entire spectrum of 451st Air Expeditionary Wing manpower requirements and provides direct manpower support to units assigned to the wing.

He also updates and validates the Deployed Requirements Manpower Document to determine authorized rotational end-strength.

"Sergeant McIntosh puts in several requests through different avenues to figure out how to request needed positions," Lieutenant Duarte said. "Personnel deals with people and faces. Manpower deals with spaces."

Lieutenant Duarte praised the Airmen of the 451st EFSF for their teamwork and expertise, which she said is what allows them to be successful.

"I've got a new crew in here and they're doing a great job," said Sergeant Miller. "Most of the time I'm not here; I'm out and about and they're still doing their job as a good, strong crew."