Comptroller Squadron's FSO wins best in AFSPC for 2006 Published April 27, 2007 By Valerie Mullett 341st Space Wing Public Affairs Office MALMSTORM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. -- The 341st Comptroller Squadron's Financial Services Office was named the best in Air Force Space Command for 2006. "Their's is not a glamorous job, nor one that catches the headlines with daring rescues or wondrous feats of engineering," said Maj. Brent Hatch, 341st CPTS commander, currently deployed in support of the Global War on Terrorism. "They push papers and enter data into a computer throughout the day, or deal with customers in person and over the phone ... often upset customers." Their jobs ensure military and civilian personnel get paid accurately and on time, and that personnel needing to attend school, go on a temporary duty assignment or permanent change of station move do so with as few problems as possible. "The team won this award because the tasks they are responsible for accomplishing were done well, ahead of schedule and better than anyone else in the command," said Senior Master Sgt. David Halvorson, 341st CPTS superintendent. Some of those accomplishments include training more than 1,200 personnel on the new defense travel system, revamping the out-processing procedures by monitoring members' PCS dates and attaining 100 percent pay accuracy for departing personnel. The team also provided an in-depth analysis of basic allowance for subsistence issues after a comprehensive review of dorm residents. The results were briefed to the commander to ensure maximum use of the dining facility and ensure the BAS policy was consistent. At the command level, the team shattered expected goals in a few key areas. They achieved a 99 percent separation pay accuracy rate; AFPSC's goal is 85 percent. They crushed AFSPC's 95 percent goal for timeliness on more than 5,000 travel vouchers with a 99.2 percent rate. They worked with the military personnel flight to clean up the personnel accounting system data which dropped the error amount for Malmstrom down to three of the 319 total errors command-wide. "Out of this shines the true spirit of how the personal drive for perfection can create a team that comes together to deliver an award-winning performance," Major Hatch said. "I have never seen a small flight of folks do so much ... for the squadron ... for the wing ... and for each other." Even while focusing on excelling at their tasks at hand, the team also became a test base for the Air Force for digital scanning of pay documents. The first phase of this test started in February 2006 and phase two is still in progress today. "It is that team spirit that leads to goals being exceeded, cutting-edge technology and transformation being tested, deploying and taking care of those deployed, and selflessly giving to Malmstrom and the local community that sets them apart," Major Hatch said. While 2006 brought the team accolades from the command, they are already setting the mark for more goals to accomplish in 2007. "I think their accomplishments with managing the government travel card program have to stand out as one of the biggest and Malmstrom is reaping the benefits now," Sergeant Halvorson said. "We were identified as having the lowest delinquency rate of outstanding GTC billings in the command for the quarter [October through December 2006] and because of that, the wing received $4,000 in quality-of-life money. With a more aggressive tracking program now in place, there's no reason we shouldn't be able to achieve this every quarter." "I only hope the customers of the 341st CPTS are as satisfied with the services they've received as I am to work with these fine men and women," Major Hatch said. The members of the Financial Services Office are: 2nd Lt. Tamara Wyatt, Financial Service Officer Airman Basic Kevin Cribbs, Customer Service Technician Airman Christopher Bing, CST Airman 1st Class James Cassibba, CST Airman 1st Class Vickie Ann Erickson, CST Airman 1st Class Alan Morse, CST Airman 1st Class Juliana Nualta, CST Airman 1st Class Travis Sanchez, CST Senior Airman Gerard Doran, CST Senior Airman Patsey Fowler, CST Senior Airman Nakeisha Maroney, CST Senior Airman Jessica Norton, Deputy Disbursing Officer Senior Airman Hermes Sipenuk, CST Senior Airman Jacob Taylor, CST Staff Sgt. Laura Diaz, CST Tech. Sgt. Eric Bishop, Deputy Disbursing Officer Tech. Sgt. Woodrow Fogelman, Chief, Customer Service Tech. Sgt. Javier Garza, Chief, Customer Support Master Sgt. Michael Henderson, Deputy FSO Pat Higgenbotham, Lead Auditor and Defense Travel Auditor Patty Skawinski, Civilian Pay Technician