Photo By Sgt. Jason Adolphson | Spc. Jeffery Wallace, an 18th Financial Management operations Soldier from Virginia...... read more read more
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CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait — A Soldier from 18th Financial Management Center was recognized for correcting a pay discrepancy that affected more than 120,000 troops passing through the U.S. Central Command Theater. Senior leaders at Camp Arifjan rewarded him alongside other members of the 18th FMC at the end of their yearlong deployment, Jan 21.
The U.S. Army Central Financial Management Awards Program recognizes contributions by individuals and teams for improving financial management support throughout the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.
"This is a small token of recognition for each individual and everything you've done," guest speaker, Maj. Gen. James Rogers, commanding general of 1st Theater Sustainment Command, said in his opening remarks at the ceremony.
Quality assurance manager, Maj. Christopher Wood stood out among his peers.
Wood won the individual award category for "financial management process improvement at a major command level" with his Lean Six Sigma (business method strategy) project on theater deployment entitlements.
Thousands of Soldiers' theater entitlements were not started or stopped using the Tactical Personnel System card swipe process; a system designed to initiate entitlements for deployed servicemembers and deactivate them when returning home.
"There were full units of Soldiers not getting paid and the system is supposed to take care of Soldiers," Woods said. "I thought to myself, 'this is ridiculous, but what an awesome opportunity to help Soldiers get paid more timely.'"
Woods led a combined effort with financial management commands and human resources commands to fix the issue. "The award appears to an individual, but it really was a team effort and I couldn't have done it without them," Woods said.
Team awards for the 18th FMC included the quality assurance team's efforts in organizing, coordinating, and responding with corrective actions for FM audits performed by external agencies such as the Department of Defense Inspector General and the Army Audit Agency.
Soldiers in the 18th FMC also contributed to strengthening the Iraq and Afghanistan economies.
The financial management team won the category for "FM initiative at a major command level" for their efforts in strengthening the Iraq and Afghanistan banking infrastructures. Their initiative resulted in growth of Iraqi banks, which increased from one bank per 46,000 Iraqis to one bank per 10,000 Iraqis, and increased bank assets and deposits in Afghanistan by about 70 percent.
Rogers said the 18th FMC Soldiers built a legacy for their replacements. "You showed not only is it going to work, but reset the doctrine."
The 326th Finance Group, National Guard unit centralized in Bell, Calif., replaced 18th FMC, which returned to Fort Bragg, N.C.
| Date Taken: | 01.23.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 01.23.2010 18:41 |
| Story ID: | 44343 |
| Location: | CAMP ARIFJAN, KW |
| Web Views: | 610 |
| Downloads: | 371 |
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