Photo By Spc. Allison Churchill | Fayetteville, N.C., native Staff Sgt. Dwight Benjamin, Forward Operating Base Delta...... read more read more
By Sgt. Allison Churchill
41st Fires Brigade
FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq – The Soldiers working in the Forward Operating Base Delta badging office earned first place in efficiency among other Tier II teams in Iraq for October.
The title goes to the team that had the most enrollments in the Biometric Identification System for Access, per personnel. With 381 enrollments, the 41st Fires Brigade team also placed third in Iraq overall.
Not too bad considering the current team inherited an office with little organization in June.
"There were applications in a filing cabinet without any order," said Sgt. Christopher Lepant, of Hastings, Neb., who runs the printing office.
The team assembled to run the badging process trained themselves in BISA enrollment procedures by reading Central Command's regulations on the topic.
The badging and force protection teams worked together to create a series of checks in the application and badging system, said 1st Lt. Theresa Piasta, of Santa Rosa, Calif., badging and force protection officer in charge.
"We had a lot of complaints when we first got here," said Piasta, of the time it took to work out the quirks.
The BISA enrollment process still requires an application be approved, background checks, take finger prints and iris scans, and coordination with the sponsoring agency.
"It takes time, but it's better than letting a security risk on the FOB," said Sgt. Scott Zipp, Jeffersonville, Ind., administration and enrollment non-commissioned officer. Zipp said his team is now able to give qualified workers a badge within 10 days.
The team also made provisions so important FOB projects can get done while employees' applications are going through the system. The day worker program gives conspicuous badges to workers who need to be escorted.
If a worker abuses their privileges, the badging and force protection teams work together to remove the employee from the FOB and mark the incident in BISA.
BISA is used by international intelligence organizations, which means negative remarks in a worker's profile can result in visa denial in other countries.
"This isn't just for FOB Delta," said Piasta. "Every person we're BISA enrolling is protecting someone in America."
The 41st Fires Bde. badging team also improved the badge numbering process, matching badges to their application. The system also helped speed up the daily operations of distributing and collecting badges as local workers come on and off the FOB each day.
All local citizens have to turn in identification to collect their badge for the day. Triple Canopy guards handle the exchanging of the materials while a Soldier and NCO from the badging team inspect the identification and rosters for authenticity.
"All members of the team pay attention to detail," said Piasta.
The overhaul took more than two straight days to execute, Lepant said, but "it's a much better system now."
| Date Taken: | 11.17.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 11.17.2008 08:55 |
| Story ID: | 26431 |
| Location: | AL KUT, IQ |
| Web Views: | 363 |
| Downloads: | 219 |
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