Page 6 - March ARB Beacon 12-18-15

6 December 18, 2015 www.aerotechnews.com/marcharb
facebook.com/TeamMarch
Finance team brings home top AFRC award

by Senior Airman Russell S. McMillan
452 AMW public affairs

The 452nd Financial Management (FM) team, March Air Reserve Base, recently U.S. Air National Guard photo/Tech. Sgt. Neil Ballecer
won the 2015 Air Force Reserve Command Financial Services Office of the Year
Award. 7KHG)LQDQFLDO6HUYLFHV2I¿FHZRQWKH)LQDQFLDO6HUYLFHV2I¿FHRIWKH<HDU
)LQDQFLDO6HUYLFH2I¿FH¿HOGHGFXVWRPHULQTXLULHVDQGWKHG)0RI¿FH
The AFRC-wide competition is an annual award comprised of four FM sections earned a ‘Best Practice’ on the recent UEI. MSgt Miguel Gonzalez (not pictured),
for which bases are judged: military pay, travel pay, civilian pay and disbursement. 452d Financial Management Superintendent, won the AFRC Financial Manage-
PHQW6HQLRU1RQ&RPPLVVLRQHG2I¿FHURIWKH<HDU
“We submitted it like any other award up to AFRC and we won,” said John Flor-
ence, financial service officer, 452 FM. “This is an award for all of March ARB.” “I had the opportunity to meet with seven other bases and communicate the
volume of work March receives,” said Brown. “When they put our numbers on the
A brief sampling of the achievements the unit was recognized for include exam- board it dwarfed everyone else’s numbers.”
ining 28,500 Air Force Reserve Order Writing System orders to ensure accuracy of
$58.7 million in pay and allowances; auditing 9,800 Defense Travel System vouch- Brown explained that during the metrics presentation portion of the trip the other
ers; reducing processing time for resolving government outstanding orders; reduc- bases’ total processed DTS vouchers averaged approximately 200-300 per month.
ing space constraints by electronically scanning more than 100,000 records; and In contrast, March ARB’s volume averaged approximately 1,400 vouchers pro-
executing a compliance program resulting in zero failures for travel, reserve pay cessed per month, yet also included added complexity by supporting some financial
office, operations and management and reserve personnel application audits. services for Hawaii, Guam and the local 362nd Recruiting Squadron.

Additionally, the accomplishments were achieved during a 60 percent personnel “It was a group effort, from leadership to timekeepers to certifiers to techni-
cut to the office. cians,” said Florence. “It was a combination of everyone across the base and every-
body played their part.”
The top contributors of success, even after the reduction in manning, were the
resiliency of the existing staff, bringing in reservists and doing more with less, The FM team’s accomplishments will soon be submitted to compete against all
explained Jason Brown, financial management specialist, 452 FM. Staff members other finance offices for an Air Force-wide competition.
were encouraged to innovate while reservists were provided advanced training in
various processes.

An example of the innovation included the government outstanding orders tool,
which provided the office an aggregation of information from multiple systems
to create a more accurate product, explained Florence. The system saved approxi-
mately 100 hours per month in research activities.

“It’s great and I can see all the changes and advancing that we’ve gone through,”
said Wendy Love, accounting technician, 452 FM, who uses the upgraded Govern-
ment Outstanding Orders (GOO) tool. “It feels good to be recognized that our job
is getting done and that it’s getting done better as we go,” Love said.

In addition to the award showcasing how the 452 FM team provides value to
March ARB, Brown participated in an AFRC manpower study in June to also high-
light how Team March leads the way AFRC-wide.

From MUNCY page 1 Force, but staying in was a different he said. eral never entered his wildest dreams.
story, he said. By the time he submitted his airline His highest aspiration might have been
figure out a way to put some manpower to be an 0-6, colonel, operations group
back into the administrative functions “I was, as a young cadet, extreme- application in 1991, pilots were being commander, which he said he thought
as we have just become too lean in ly homesick with no military back- furloughed he said. So Muncy flew in would be a milestone achievement. But
these areas.” ground whatsoever--definitely out of the corporate sector for a while, worked even that was a pipe dream he thought.
my element,” he said. “That first year as an insurance auditor, and eventually
His background at the Academy was an eye-opening, landed in the medical career field as a He started his Reserve career at the
Muncy said he came into the Air head-jarring experience to say the medical administrator. 434th Air Refueling Wing, Grissom
Force never thinking that this would be least. But, I did end up staying and ARB, Indiana, where he remained for
his career. graduated in 1983. After graduation, “Looking back, I cherish my time five-and-a-half years before transfer-
From a small Kentucky town, Mun- I chose to go to pilot training as I felt in the civilian sector as the experi- ring to Headquarters, Air Force Re-
cy said his family was by no means that was another career opportunity ence I gained in those five years has serve Command, Robins Air Force
wealthy. As a young lad, he accompa- for my post-military career.” paid dividends for me in the Re- Base, Georgia, and subsequently to
nied his engineer grandfather on sur- serve,” Muncy said. “That experience Portland International Airport, Oregon;
veying jobs and found that he enjoyed “I became a KC-135 pilot in 1984 has helped me understand and relate Joint Base Andrews, Maryland; Tinker
the engineering perspective. When it and flew tankers for another six years to what our traditional reservists ex- AFB, Oklahoma, and finally here.
came time to think about college and before getting out in December 1990 perience in their civilian jobs. If I
a career path, engineering factored into with the intent of going to the airlines,” had to do it again, I wouldn’t change He has always looked at his ca-
his decision when the idea of applying Muncy said. a thing because all of those experi- reer moves as whatever the command
for the Air Force Academy came up. ences helped make me a better leader needed is what he should do, he said.
“I applied for a couple of reasons,” The irony in Muncy flying tankers in today’s Air Force Reserve.” With each of his jobs, Muncy said he
Muncy said. “One, the Air Force Acad- for much of his career is that his family has gone in and done the best possible
emy was and is a top notch engineering owned and operated a full service gas It was late 1994 when Muncy re- job he could do without worry to where
school, and two, the cost of education station for more than 40 years. He said ceived a call from the Air Force Re- that job may lead.
was and is government funded, allevi- that he spent many days, afternoons serve asking him if he would be inter-
ating the need for me to ask my parents and weekends working there. ested in coming back as a pilot. After “You go in and do the job. You don’t
to pay for or assist in paying for my an application, and getting through the worry about what the job will lead to,”
continued education.” “I went from pumping gas at my interview process in October 1995, he said. “If you’re doing a job looking
That’s how Muncy got into the Air family’s service station to joining the Muncy donned the uniform once again, for the next job or looking for the next
Air Force, only to find myself pumping as an Air Force Reserve captain.
gas at 30,000 feet. But at least I didn’t See MUNCY page 9
have to wash the windows anymore,” At that time, he said becoming a gen-