Photo By Master Sgt. Nicholas Conner | With new common access card centers, open in the 15th Sustainment Brigade and the 1st...... read more read more
Sgt.1st Class Nicholas Conner
15th Sustainment Brigade, Public Affairs Office
CAMP TAJI, Iraq – For Soldiers needing a new military identification card, a trip to the personnel services battalion (PSB) used to take a large chunk of their day.
Downrange, the need for a new common access card (CAC) due to promotion, expiration, damage or loss can force troops to travel long distances from forward operating bases to a centralized PSB, further increasing the time and danger factors.
However, a team of human resource specialists here, from C Detachment, 15th PSB, 15th Sustainment Brigade, is out to change that. With new CAC centers, open in the 15th SB and the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division – both on Camp Taji – Soldiers now wait about 15 minutes for a new military ID.
Under a personnel services delivery redesign (PDSR), outlined in a memorandum from Lt. Gen. Michael Rochelle, Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, the human resources community is transforming to provide brigade centric support for a brigade centric Army.
With the division level PSB soon to be a unit of the past, explained Warrant Officer Roberta McNorton, a human resources technician with C Det., 15th PSB, the PDSR takes those support services directly to the war fighter.
By embedding forward assistance support (FAS) teams within each brigade, 15th PSB Soldiers now issue the CAC using real-time automated personnel identification system (RAPIDS) sites, complete with the CAC software and hardware.
"We'll pick up the responsibility of doing ID cards, CAC [pin] resets and DEERS (Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System) information updates," said McNorton. "As you see this fall into place, each brigade will have their own machine."
Efforts by Col. Aundre Piggee, 15th SB commander, to push for additional CAC machines made the difference, McNorton explained. With them, the 15th PSB efficiently trained and embedded FAS teams within 1st CD's brigades, allowing each brigade combat team to be self-contained throughout the deployment.
"It was a big milestone to cross," she said. "You had all these (forward operating bases) without support."
Currently, five FAS teams provide CAC services to all service members, Department of Defense (DoD) personnel and contractors throughout Iraq, with another five on the way.
"Embedding the CAC machines is the final stage," McNorton said. "[They] allow the FAS teams to perform the entire spectrum of essential personnel services."
| Date Taken: | 09.05.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 09.05.2007 08:33 |
| Story ID: | 12191 |
| Location: | TAJI, IQ |
| Web Views: | 597 |
| Downloads: | 410 |
This work, 15th PSB teams make CAC cards faster, easier, by MSG Nicholas Conner, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
