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380AEW Article

380th PERSCO manages transition

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Christopher A. Campbell
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Personnel Support for Contingency Operations provides more support than just processing in and out of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing.

"PERSCO is responsible for strict personnel accountability of members transiting in and out of the 380th," said Maj. Mark Horner, 380th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron commander. "While not actively rotating personnel in and out of the base, they manage a myriad of personnel programs similar to your home station Military Personnel Flight."

PERSCO is a five member team that handles between 1,000 and 1,500 personnel during peak rotation times. During their non-peak times in between rotation flurries they still work with 400 to 500 people who need to get in or out processed in a hurry.

"My favorite thing about working at the 380th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron, PERSCO division is the challenge of managing the transition here," said Tech. Sgt. David Taylor, noncommissioned officer in charge of manpower and personnel base level. "Part of my responsibility is to ensure our 380th deployers have a replacement coming at the end of their tour."

This group can help 380th members with issuing new Common Access Cards, retiree identification cards, dependent identification cards, reenlistments, promotion releases, retraining assistance and Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System personnel records updates for members such as name changes, dependent additions and Foreign Identification Numbers.

PERSCO also processes authorization change requests and provide direct assistance to senior base leadership with grade waivers, rest and recuperation orders, emergency leave orders, and early release requests to effectively manage the transition.

Since being in the area of responsibility the PERSCO office has issued over 400 Common Access Cards, eight retiree and three dependent identification cards.

"Recently the 380th PERSCO was hand-picked by the Air Force Personnel Center as a test base for world-wide MilPDS and Automated Records Management System access," Maj. Horner added. "This will allow them to assist customers with critical personnel updates and actions that are normally only coordinated with the home station Military Personnel Flights for their action. This capability will permit PERSCO to complete transactions while customers wait, versus wait days or weeks for personnel updates."

The team can also assist members with virtual MPF issues. "We have a kiosk here at PERSCO that is dedicated to customer service," Sergeant Taylor said. "They can access vMPF, Air Force Portal, and any other sites to help them manage their personal data."

"Our purpose is to ensure that service members receive personnel support as if they were at home station," PERSCO superintendent Tech. Sgt. Dustin Barnes explained. "We are a fully operational DEERS and Real-time Automated Personnel Identification System site."

The team averages 160 customers per week. The service they provide varies depending on the customer's needs.


PERSCO does not try to keep the different services they provide a secret, Chief Master Sgt.(S) Jesse James Langhorne, PERSCO team chief explained, "we maintain a PERSCO website and send out a bi-weekly newsletter."

The hard working team at PERSCO isn't just here to help members in-process and out-process this base, they are here to assist everyone with all the abilities that home station MPFs can provide, just with less people.