Photo By Master Sgt. Matthew Mccoy | Airman 1st Class Christina Love, finance technician, 184th Comptroller Flight, went to...... read more read more
WICHITA, Kan. - The 184th Intelligence Wing members have a reputation among the Air National Guard for excellence and leaving places better than when they found them. So it shouldn’t be any surprise that three Airmen from the 184th Comptroller Flight impressed two separate wings while gaining knowledge to improve their wing’s processes.
Excelsior, ever upward
Tech. Sgt. Dawn Gudde and Staff Sgt. Matthieu Statler were sent on back-to-back temporary duty assignments to assist the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing with their military pay and audit their financial records.
Gudde was the first to be sent on a three-week temporary duty assignment and spent time beforehand researching regulations that she might use while identifying issues for the 106th.
“I learned a lot about COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) and their special pay,” said Gudde. “I didn’t know any of the rates or any of the rules, because we don’t have it. We also worked closely with the HARM (Host Aviation Resource Management) office on flight pay, dive pay and jump pay and that was interesting because, again, we don’t have a lot of that here.”
“My responsibility for the month that I was there was to audit the special duty assignment pay,” said Statler. “I initially went back six years and looked at all their pay records and cross-referenced the hard copies they had and what was in the system. I think that I had approximately 400 findings with $66,000 that were still owed to members and just over $14,000 that members owed the government.”
The 106th RW didn’t need an expert in the area, but they needed a couple of dedicated individuals that wouldn’t give up until they found solutions.
“They were short-handed and they didn’t have time for anyone to be dedicated to finding the regulations,” said Gudde. “So that is what we offered to them, someone that would dig in, find the answers, get it done and that had enough experience to know where to go.”
Working with numbers, spreadsheets and detailed regulations might sound boring to some, but Statler embraced the challenge.
“I enjoyed what I was doing,” said Statler. “Just auditing documents, it was just fun for me. Being able to dig in and investigate this member is owed $1,000 or this member was owed $500 made me think ‘What if that was me that found out that I was getting an unexpected bonus ... that would be really nice.’”
Both Gudde and Statler appreciated the opportunity to represent the 184th IW and help out fellow Airmen.
“It made me feel good that our leadership had the confidence to send us up there and knowing that I wasn’t going to go wreck it all and give the wing a bad name,” said Gudde. “They even asked for me to go back. I did and they are still asking to see if I can come back.”
Head north to Alaska
While Gudde and Statler went to the East Coast, Airman 1st Class Christina Love, a 184th Comptroller Flight finance technician, traveled to a much colder climate to help the 168th Comptroller Flight at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.
“Being TDY up there really taught me how to be a technician for my job,” said Love. “I learned everything from processing short tours, long tours and promoting traditional guardsmen and AGRs. It was interesting because they were so far behind that I was actually able to help them out and get them ahead of their tasks instead of being backlogged.”
When the 168th Air Refueling Wing placed a national request for a finance technician, Love jumped at the chance. With only two weeks’ notice and around Christmas, she packed her bags and headed north.
“It was amazing,” said Love. “I was staying on base, and I didn’t have a rental car so I would walk to work and there would be nothing but snow. It actually was pretty awesome. There really isn’t any wind and the snow stays fresh instead of wet like it is here in Kansas. It was beautiful.”
Love was new to her job and had just completed her 5-level upgrade training, but that didn’t stop her from getting the job done.
“My biggest takeaway was, as long as you stay determined, you can make a difference,” said Love. “I didn’t really know my job when I got up there. I had just come back from technical school that trained more for active duty. But just knowing that you are willing to help and willing to do whatever, you can actually affect an entire unit.”
Due to her determination and hard work, she was offered an opportunity to work full-time as a military technician for the 168th ARW.
| Date Taken: | 07.17.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 07.18.2015 11:08 |
| Story ID: | 170444 |
| Location: | WICHITA, KS, US |
| Web Views: | 137 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Finance Airmen carry wing’s reputation to New York, Alaska, by Maj. Matthew Lucht, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT