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Money is our business

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Bryan Swink
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Military pay in itself can be confusing. Coupled with allotments, deployed entitlements, travel vouchers and host nation currency conversion, it can become outright overwhelming.

The 379th Expeditionary Comptroller Squadron puts people at ease using their friendly customer service to help guide and educate service members about the many opportunities and services available to them while deployed.

"The men and women of the 379th ECPTS are doing a phenomenal job," said Maj. Lisa Scott, 379th ECPTS commander. "With the amount of traffic we see come through our building on a daily basis, they continue to perform magnificently and do it with a smile on their face."

The customer service team at the 379th ECPTS supports individual customers across the installation, helping with filing travel accruals to pay government travel card balances or initiating pay entitlements. Since their rotation began in June, they have served more than 16,000 customers.

The team takes great pride in making sure every customer feels welcome and walks out the door more satisfied than when they came in.

"We essentially advise our customers and help them the best we can," said Senior Airman Laurel Hutchins, 379th ECPTS customer service technician. "Whatever issues we can't directly solve for them because of the resources at our disposal, we tell them the proper steps to take to ensure the issue can be corrected by working through their home-station finance office. Customer satisfaction is our main priority."

Additionally, the 379th ECPTS manages the EagleCash program, which allows military, civilians and contractors to load up to $350 daily onto the card from any of the kiosks located on base, as well as transfer funds between cards. The current rotation has issued more than 6,500 EagleCash cards to people who have loaded more than $1.1 million to them.

The customer service team also assists service members in building on their deployment earnings by enrolling them into the U.S. Savings Deposit Program. The program allows deployed military personnel to deposit money into an account that earns up to 10-percent annual interest after being on station for 30 consecutive days.

"It's really quite simple to get enrolled in the program," said Hutchins, deployed from Scott Air Force Base, Ill. "All we need is a blue-stamped copy of your orders, an EagleCash card or personal check, a current (Leave and Earnings Statement) printed out from MyPay and their military ID. It's a great feeling knowing we are helping these customers earn extra money while deployed."

For those who need actual currency in their hands, the 379th ECPTS cashes checks and provides currency conversion. In four months, the cashiers have provided members with $300,000 in personal check cashing services and distributed approximately six million riyals in local currency. Dealing with this much U.S. and local currency is a big responsibility the cashiers take seriously.

"This job was a bit of an adjustment for me when I deployed because I have never worked as a cashier at my home station," said Senior Airman Dwayne Simeon, 379th ECPTS cashier deployed from Pope Air Field, N.C. "But I have learned so much since being here and am proud our team has had zero discrepancies since we arrived."

The 379th ECPTS also manages the budgeting side of the operations at the base level, which oversees operation and maintenance dollars and provides wing and squadron-level advice on the expenditure of funds, which total more than $105 million in fiscal year 2012. This service ensures funds are available for day-to-day supply purchases and construction projects.

"The 379th AEW has the largest budget in the area of responsibility," said Senior Airman Felicia Logsdon, 379th ECPTS travel account technician deployed from Barksdale AFB, La. "I work with unit resource advisors from every branch of service and coalition partners as well. It's rewarding knowing I'm helping these units accomplish their mission."

The finance office is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. For financial assistance, call the customer service desk at 437-8686.