Photo By Staff Sgt. Victor Joecks | Pfc. Ernie Perez, a customer service finance technician and travel clerk with B/4th...... read more read more
CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar — There’s a one-stop financial management unit able to facilitate the varying needs of service members stationed here while deployed to the Middle East.
Service members can walk into the offices of B/4th Financial Management Support Detachment, 17th Special Troops Battalion, 17th Sustainment Brigade, 1st Sustainment Command (Theater), to receive answers to their financial questions.
“We handle Soldier pay,” said Sgt. Branndon Briggs, a military pay noncommissioned officer with B/4th FMSD.
“A lot of the forms are very tricky to fill out so you need an SME [subject matter expert] to help fill them out. A lot of the pay regs are very difficult to read through,” said Briggs. “We advise Soldiers on what they’re entitled and help prevent BAH fraud and prevent them from getting the wrong entitlements and having a debt later.”
Deploying from Fort Bliss, Texas, B/4th FMSD also informs service members about the Savings Deposit Program. SDP provides deployed service members a guaranteed annual 10 percent rate of return on savings, up to $10,000.
“It’s really been awesome,” said Spc. Forest Lyon, an infantryman with C Company, 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, from Fluvanna, Virginia, referring to having a finance office available overseas. “They’ve helped me a ton. They helped me set up my SDP. A lot of posts don’t have a finance office. Their being here really allowed me to save some real money while I was here.”
Service members find that having a finance office readily available to answer their questions provides peace of mind.
“When we do work with customers and help them out, it removes that stress,” said Briggs. “It’s one less thing to worry about for a married Soldier. It’s a lot easier, because they can physically come into us instead of having their spouse go into finance [stateside].”
Capable of supporting over 5,000 service members, the members of the B/4th FMSD also disperse funds to those on base who want U.S. or local currency. To keep service members from getting taking advantage of by non-military financial institutions, military finance offices provide current exchanges without any fees. During the first seven months of its deployment, the unit has dispersed over $5 million.
“Where we try to shine is customer service,” said 1st Lt. Steve Rusnak, dispersing agent with
B/4th FMSD, who’s from Tampa, Florida. “We developed relationships with customers so we know what they need before they show up. We got a better understanding of their priorities, so we know how to help them.”
While dispersing operations are its most visible responsibility, they don’t consume most of B/4th FMSD’s time.
A unique tasking for B/4th FMSD is serving as the theater vendor pay support cell for contract payments out of Afghanistan. During the drawdown in Afghanistan, financial units were no longer allocated in the country. This gave rise for the need to have an overseas unit supporting the “deploy-in-place” unit working on the contracts in the United States.
“When everyone thinks finance, they just think pay,” said Cpt. Jennifer Evans, commander of
B/4th FMSD. “Really, that’s the smallest portion of what we do. When you start looking at paying agents and all the contracts, that’s where finance is working in conjunction with units, supporting and working together to get [contracts properly paid].”
So far, B/4th FMSD has facilitated the payment of over 2,500 contracts worth more than $200 million.
“We’re the liaison between the pay office in the states and contracting office here,” said Evans. “Resource management has obligated the funds. Our cell is the only ones who do quality assurance and quality control. We make sure it’s ready to be paid and forward to the pay office.”
Whether it’s helping service members or reviewing contracts, the B/4th FMSD’s work has earned praise and appreciation from its customers.
“Pretty much everyone in here has gotten a coin from a colonel or command sergeant major,” said Briggs, who’s from Carson City, Nev. “When we can help people out, they’re very grateful.”
| Date Taken: | 07.21.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 07.21.2016 02:22 |
| Story ID: | 204552 |
| Location: | AS SALIYAH, QA |
| Hometown: | CARSON CITY, NV, US |
| Hometown: | TAMPA, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 100 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Financing the fight: B/4th FMSD keeps funds flowing, by SSG Victor Joecks, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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