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PERSCO: Keeping accountability while maintaining the distance

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman JaNae Capuno
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
ALI AL SALEM AIR BASE, Kuwait --  Airmen coming to or through Ali Al Salem will in-process through the 386th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron Personnel Support for Contingency Operations (PERSCO) office before they step into their deployed units.

“We make sure we have a count on everyone who comes through Ali Al Salem,” said Airman 1st Class Ryiel Crumrine, 386th EFSS customer support team member. “We are the gateway for all of Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq and Afghanistan, so we have a lot of inbound transients we have to keep accountability while they’re here.”


The 10-man PERSCO team is responsible for in-processing thousands of Airmen and joint forces through the base. But what happens when a pandemic like COVID-19 strikes? How does PERSCO handle their operations under the current physical distancing guidelines?

“COVID-19 has affected the way we do business by not allowing us to interact with the members until they graduate from ‘Q-town’ (quarantine),” said Master Sgt. Mindy Tyson, 386th EFSS PERSCO sustainment superintendent. “We now do a lot of work prior to the member’s arrival, instead of having the members fill out their form 245s, we do all that for them from the ‘Wheels up manifest.’”

Tyson stated that PERSCO uses different platforms such as Virtual Military Personnel Flight {vMPF), Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERs) and AEFonline to obtain data for incoming personnel.

PERSCO is strictly a deployed function and is a vital task to ensure proper accountability takes place within the AOR. Though quarantine procedures have thrown figurative wrenches into the inbound/outbound process, it doesn’t stop PERSCO from getting Airmen in and out of Ali Al Salem Air Base when it’s time to roll.

“Depending on the personnel coming in, it can take a few hours for us to get all the documents ready prior to their arrival,” Tyson said. “Once they are here, it can take us about 30 mins or less to ensure we have everyone accounted for.”

It’s important that ASAB maintains accountability, especially while quarantine and physical distancing is the “normal.” PERSCO makes sure the mission never fails by getting personnel to their work centers with haste.

“As PERSCO members, we are constantly adapting to our environment,” Tyson said. “Processes within all realms of Personnel change as the wind blows - staying flexible is the name of the game. We will always continue to do what needs to be done to keep accountability of members in the AOR.”

With the assistance of Air Force Central Command directives and the support from the medical teams, PERSCO along with other agencies are able to ensure the mission continues without a hitch. For more information Inbound personnel to ASAB should visit the https://www.afcent.af.mil/Units/386th-Air-Expeditionary-Wing/ inbound quarantine information packets under the operations tab.