Here is the next round of Q&As from my most recent Commander’s Call.
I posted these responses and previous Q&A to our wing Sharepoint site and our public website, www.scott.af.mil, for future access and review.
Please keep the questions coming!
PERSONNEL ISSUES
Do you know if contracting is getting a re-enlistment bonus?
Currently, the contracting career field is not eligible for a Selective Reenlistment Bonus (SRB). The SRB program is a monetary incentive paid to Airmen serving in selected career fields who reenlist for additional obligated service. The bonus is intended to encourage the reenlistment of sufficient numbers of qualified enlisted personnel in military skills with either demonstrated retention shortfalls or high training costs.
Headquarters Air Force and career field managers review each Air Force Specialty for award or adjustment of the SRB at least once per year. Criteria used in designating SRB skills, as well as general eligibility criteria, can be found in AFI 36-2606, Reenlistment in the United States Air Force. The SRB listing is updated annually; however, Air Staff may determine the need to make changes during the year and release a listing upon that decision. If there is a change, our Military Personnel Section will receive a message and inform those eligible. You can obtain a complete SRB listing from the myPERS website, by typing “Selective Reenlistment Bonus” into the search bar on the home page.
Please don’t forget to take advantage of the senior enlisted leadership in your squadron and the Military Personnel Section professionals who can provide a broad range of career information!
Why do we have so many problems with online medical appointments?
Good question. We researched system maintenance logs from mid-June to the present time and found sporadic system downtime during this time, especially during the week of Sept. 7-11. This downtime was due to unforeseen DoD-level server connectivity issues followed by a scheduled network migration on Sept. 10-11.
We sincerely apologize for the delays and inconvenience, but we also thank you for using www.tricareonline for making your medical appointments. Did you know that you can also use TRICARE Online to check lab and radiology results, in addition to accessing data from your medical record such as medication lists and immunizations? TRICARE Online is a phenomenal resource at your fingertips and is available 24/7; however, the system does occasionally have both scheduled and unscheduled downtime.
If you like the convenience of online services, please also consider signing up for MICARE at your next medical appointment. MICARE provides you with the ability to send a secure message or question to your Primary Care Manager to take care of simple health needs, and can often make scheduling an appointment unnecessary.
INSTALLATION & FACILITIES
Why did the club name change to the Scott Event Center?
I’m glad you asked! As the culture in our Air Force continues to evolve, we expanded the services and functions a typical AF “Club” used to offer. As an Event Center, we are more flexible in providing social programs and services, as well as conference support. The Air Force approved transforming our Club to an Event Center in 2012, which included investments to develop Zeppelins’ restaurant and the Heritage Lounge, as well as improve our banquet preparation space and modernize the audio-visual capabilities to host world-class Team Scott events. Thank you for your continued support of our Event Center and please let us know how we can better support you and your unit.
P-10 has leaks, holes, and mold in the building. Is the P-10 renovation project still being pushed from the priority listing?
We recognize the state of P10 and have been advocating for the complete renovation of this facility for several years. Since we completed a design for the renovation project in October 2015, we have been advocating for funding of this project through all available means.
Unfortunately, due to the size of this project ($8.2 million) and limited MILCON funds across the Air Force, it has not competed favorably in the Air Force's centralized facility project scoring model. In spite of this, we remain committed to advocate for the restoration of this facility as it affects each member of Team Scott.
MISCELLANEOUS
What is the 375 AMW Engine Room?
That is an excellent question. To put it simply, the engine room is a method of communication.
Within the first few months of my command I took a tour of The Gund Corporation, one of our local community partners. I was impressed with how they used white boards to connect organizational priorities to the tasks that were done on the manufacturing floor. Every employee can visually see how what they do affects measurements that allow the company to succeed globally. And every employee has a voice. If they saw an area that could be improved, they were encouraged to use these boards to communicate their ideas to their leaders.
All commanders are striving to ensure communications are received throughout their organizations, and I was looking for a way for our Airmen to share their innovative ideas to help us meet the challenges we face every day.
Enter the “Engine Room” board concept. Inspired by Gund, we are using white boards to help us prioritize our efforts and identify innovative solutions to our day-to-day challenges. The wing engine room displays Air Force, AMC, 18th AF and the 375th Wing priorities. We use these priorities to focus our limited resources on the things that matter: Executing the Mission, Caring for our Airmen and Families, Innovating, Maintaining and Modernizing the Infrastructure, and Building Relationships with Mission and Community Partners.
If an Airman has an innovative idea or a challenge we need to address, I encourage them to place their ideas on the board. Their ideas will be prioritized and potentially replicated in all the groups and squadrons.
To recap, the engine room is simply a method of communication. I can communicate to you what my priorities are and you can communicate to me on how we can do things better across our installation!