Finance troops fight for your money

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Raisa Christie
  • 319th Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  

There is no room for mistakes when dealing with an individual’s pay, so when customers approach the 319th Comptroller Squadron Financial Operations Flight with concerns, finance operations technicians help them understand their entitlements.

“Our job is to serve airmen and civilians by giving them the ability to provide for themselves and their families,” said Tech. Sgt. Brandon Lucio-Stockwell, the 319th CPTS noncommissioned officer in charge of financial operations.

The team consists of financial operations technicians who work diligently to ensure their assignments are completed in a timely manner with minimal errors. When push comes to shove technicians persist with vigor to get finance complications solved. The most common programs that they control are military, travel and civilian pay.

Military pay and entitlements services consists of:

Deployed entitlements                        LeaveWeb administration                  

Housing allowance                              Disbursing operations

Dependency certification                    Flight pay validation

Meal card deductions                         Separation and retirement

 

Travel pay includes:

DTS administration                             Expert and witness travel

PCS in and out-processing

 

Civilian pay services support all Department of Air Force civilian personnel assigned to the 319th Reconnaissance Wing.

 

“The majority of the programs require lengthy processes that involve outside agencies,” said Master Sgt. Prince Charles Bandong, the 319th CPTS financial operations flight chief.

Those agencies include the Judge Advocate office, Military Personnel Flight, Installation Personnel Readiness, Air Force Financial Services Center, Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center, Defense Finance Accounting Service and Air Force Personnel Center. There are about 18 systems in which the technicians are operating within to provide the services.

Due to advances in technology as a result of the pandemic, the finance career field is transitioning to a predominantly virtual service that enables 24/7 access for customers. The Comptroller Services Portal is available to personnel with a Common Access Card admittance.

CSP is now available to medical group personnel that previously had an us.af.mil email account. Squadron and flight leaders have access to view each case as well as follow-up actions taken within the flight.

Full use of CSP affords the technicians more uninterrupted time to focus on the concern at hand.

Overall, the goal of the Financial Operations Flight is to avoid pay and entitlement distractions for Airmen.

“The Grand Forks AFB finance goal is for finances to be automatic and for us to remove any worries of our customers,” Bandong said. “We impact the lives of airmen by removing financial-related issues so that they can focus on the mission.”