Travis senior airman, Detroit native, provides personnel support management for Southwest Asia wing

Photo By Master Sgt. Jenifer Calhoun | Senior Airman Roberto Villalobos, from the 380th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron's Personnel Support for Contingency Operations Office, works at his desk during operations at a non-disclosed location in Southwest Asia, March 2. He is deployed from the 60th Force Support Squadron at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., and his hometown is Detroit, Mich.  

(UNDISCLOSED LOCATION)

05.04.2010

Story by Senior Airman Jenifer Calhoun 

380th Air Expeditionary Wing

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- If you ask Senior Airman Roberto Villalobos Jr. the most important thing about his deployed job, he'll tell you that it's about "taking care of people." As a personnel journeyman supporting the Personnel Support for Contingency Operations Team for the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, he said he's busy taking care of people every day.

"Our biggest responsibility as a PERSCO team in a deployed environment is we're responsible for reporting Total Force accountability and casualty status to senior military and civilian officials," said Airman Villalobos, whose deployed job title is PERSCO accountability operations technician. "As a team we also provide routine personnel program support and advice to deployed commanders and Airmen such as making new identification cards and helping Airmen find answers to personnel-related questions."

Assigned to the 380th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron, Airman Villalobos and four other Airmen provide personnel support operations for more than 1,900 people. The team provides Total Force accountability of thousands of deployed Air Force active duty, Air Reserve component, Department of the Air Force civilians, contractors and other civilian personnel not employed by the Department of Defense who support the Air Force mission at a non-disclosed base in Southwest Asia.

"Accountability is very important because it is not necessarily the weapons systems used in the fight but Airmen who support and operate these systems," said Villalobos, who is deployed from the 60th Force Support Squadron at Travis Air Force Base, Calif. "PERSCO teams make Total Force accountability our number one priority and are a critical link in virtually every aspect of deployed operations."

As a personnel journeyman, Villalobos is trained in a wide variety of skills. According to his official Air Force job description, he supervises and performs personnel activities and functions, including personnel action requests, source documents, unit, field and master personnel records and commander's support staff tasks. He updates military personnel data system records and ensures compliance with personnel policies, directives and procedures.

To do all he's required to do as a personnel journeyman, Villalobos has to maintain mandatory job knowledge in officer and Airman classification systems and procedures, preparing and maintaining personnel records and understanding assignment, promotion, testing, customer service, quality force, personnel readiness, PERSCO and deployment and mobilization procedures. He also has to know interviewing and counseling techniques, policies and procedures relating to administrative communications, correspondence, messages and general office management, the overall organizational structure and its interrelationship with the mission, and terminology and procedures employed within functional areas assigned

When he joined the Air Force more than two years ago, Villalobos said he was "very proud" to become a part of a "great team."

"Being in the Air Force is something I am very proud of," said Villalobos, whose hometown is Detroit, Mich. "Just knowing that no matter how small the tasking, it is always going to make a difference. One of the main reasons why I joined the military was to give my family a better future, a future where I did not have to worry about my son growing up in a bad neighborhood or making minimum wage to support my family. When I joined the Air Force I knew that I would have more opportunities towards making a career and finishing my education."

The 380th EFSS is a sub-unit of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing. The wing is home to the KC-10 Extender, U-2 Dragon Lady, E-3 Sentry and RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft. The wing is comprised of four groups and 12 squadrons and the wing's deployed mission includes air refueling, surveillance and reconnaissance in support of overseas contingency operations in Southwest Asia. The 380th AEW supports operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom and the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.

• Date Taken: 05.04.2010
• Date Posted: 05.04.2010 12:22
• Story ID: 49104
• Location: (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION)