Personnel experts enhance Army Reserve’s service to Soldiers

Photo By Staff Sgt. Shawn Morris | The Army Reserve’s 99th Regional Support Command hosts a two-day training event May 19-20 at the Maj. John P. Pryor Army Reserve Center on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., led by subject-matter experts from the Army’s Civilian Personnel Advisory Center located at Fort McCoy, Wis. The 99th RSC provides essential services and support throughout the nation’s northeast region, caring for all Army Reserve Soldiers assigned to approximately 330 training, maintenance and storage facilities from Maine to Virginia. The command’s Civilian FTS Branch supports nearly 1,200 employees by processing promotions, evaluations, awards, retirements, timecards, employee in- and out-processing, and other personnel actions.  

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, UNITED STATES

05.22.2015

Story by Staff Sgt. Shawn Morris 

99th Readiness Division

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. – The Army Reserve’s 99th Regional Support Command hosted a two-day training event May 19-20 at the Maj. John P. Pryor Army Reserve Center here.

The training was led by subject-matter experts from the Army’s Civilian Personnel Advisory Center located at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin.

“What we wanted to do was provide a centralized point of expertise from CPAC to come down to train all the civilian employees in the 99th,” said Scott Farole, civilian full-time support branch chief for the 99th RSC’s Directorate of Human Resources.

Also attending the training were employees from the 99th RSC’s Area Maintenance Support Activities and Equipment Concentration Sites throughout the command’s 13-state region, as well as several other Army Reserve units stationed here.

“We have individuals from other organizations attending these briefings, and they bring that back to their supervisors and their subordinates and disseminate the information,” Farole said.

The 99th RSC provides essential services and support throughout the nation’s northeast region, caring for all Army Reserve Soldiers assigned to approximately 330 training, maintenance and storage facilities from Maine to Virginia. The command’s Civilian FTS Branch supports nearly 1,200 employees by processing promotions, evaluations, awards, retirements, timecards, employee in- and out-processing and other personnel actions.

By improving their processes through training events such as this, human-resources personnel are better able to provide the support that enables unit commanders to focus solely on training and growing leaders to ensure the Army Reserve has the skills necessary to meet future mobilization demands.

“The information we received will help us both as folks who are applying for positions and folks who are conducting a review of resumes and documents we receive as part of the system,” explained Bill O’Byrne, staff operations training officer for the Army Reserve’s 78th Training Division. “It’s great when the 99th includes us in things like this because otherwise we wouldn’t have access to this type of information.”

O’Byrne and the other attendees received training on many human-resources topics to include resume writing, veterans preference, interview questions, hiring action policies and procedures, management/employee relations and the Military Technician program.

“[We want] to provide guidance to the selecting officials on some of our policies and procedures, and things that would help us get jobs filled more quickly,” said Julie Lindsey, senior human resources specialist with the Fort McCoy CPAC.

Lindsey added that a key component of CPAC’s mission is to help Army Reserve Soldiers utilize their military skills and leadership training in the civilian workforce as members of the MILTECH program.

“They’re Reserve Soldiers, they’re doing their weekend drills and their two weeks during the summer, but they need a good career to go along with that,” she said, “so what better for a Soldier than to have a civilian position with the federal government – I think it’s a perfect fit.”

For more information on CPAC, visit http://www.mccoy.army.mil/Civilians/CPAC.asp.

For more information on the 99th RSC, visit the command’s customer service website at www.army.mil/99thrsc.

• Date Taken: 05.22.2015
• Date Posted: 05.22.2015 14:18
• Story ID: 164294
• Location: JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, US