AF officials reestablish squadron commander support staffs

News > AF officials reestablish squadron commander support staffs

AF officials reestablish squadron commander support staffs

Posted 10/9/2012 Updated 10/9/2012

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by Tech. Sgt. Steve Grever
Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs

10/9/2012 - JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas (AFNS) -- Air Force officials reestablished squadron commander support staffs on Oct. 1 to help commanders manage administrative duties and other personnel and knowledge operations functions.

The decision to recreate squadron CSSs was made by Air Force senior leaders during a Corona South conference in February to help squadron commanders who were overburdened by personnel, knowledge operations and administrative support workloads.

To jump start this effort, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Manpower, Personnel and Services was given functional oversight of the CSS organization throughout the Air Force and will be responsible for developing guidance. Group-level knowledge operations personnel will provide initial support for squadron CSSs and be distributed to squadrons according to local requirements and priorities. These personnel will work directly for unit commanders and provide a variety of support functions to squadron leadership and personnel.

Additional billets are scheduled to be added to CSSs in fiscal year 2014. These additional billets will be filled by Air Force personnelists. Senior leaders are also considering options for standardizing Air Force Specialty Codes and grades within each CSS and adding additional manpower in future funding cycles.

"CSSs are the building blocks of strong squadrons. They support commanders and the mission. By rebuilding our CSS, we are helping commanders focus on their top priorities: the mission and the outstanding Airmen who accomplish our mission every day," said Lt. Gen. Darrell Jones, Air Force manpower, personnel and services deputy chief of staff. "This initiative to rebuild unit CSSs will greatly enhance mission effectiveness."

For general information about personnel services and programs, visit the myPers website at https://mypers.af.mil.

Comments

10/16/2012 11:11:02 AM ET
If manning is appropriately allocated this is news is grand. A proper CSS was vital to the stand-up and maintenance of my first squadron - which I joined but months after it was officially instated. My CSS was very effective and understood the stress we fliers were under. It helped that one among them was a Master who had been around the block a few times and was always willing to talk to the Airmen. Also having someone who understood the MPF system and could assist with related difficulties was invaluable. The high-tempo squadrons will find this to great benefit again IF it is appropriately staffed.

SSgt C W, Holloman AFB

10/11/2012 7:14:06 PM ET
@ LtCol DO. If you look at your 1 Oct UMD you should see that they moved KOM spots back to the Squadron level.

Pistol, Kadena

10/11/2012 11:32:25 AM ET
I absolutely applaud the arrival of this strategic guidance from our senior leaders. You have to wonder though how it gets so screwed up by the time it gets to the squadron level. A typical new support staff will be made of three billets. One will be filled by the current and fully occupied squadron secretary one will be filled by the current and fully occupied squadron Unit Program Coordinator and one will remain unfunded because there is insufficient manpower to reallocate to the squadrons. Where is the added support a commander is to receive Only 57 new billets are coming to spread across all of AMC. What does that average--About 1.5 billets per wing or major organization The next shoe to drop is the added tasks levied upon this new capability at the squadron level to help cut the workload of the FSS or to manage failed electronic systems. Quite the Shell Game we have going here.

Show Me the Money, JB-MDL

10/11/2012 7:56:14 AM ET
As a member of the Commander's Support Staff through this ride I can only rejoice that we will have the support back at squadron level Administrative Support is always undervalued until you need something...

CSS through it all, Hurlburt Field

10/11/2012 7:22:31 AM ET
To all of you complaining about the AF at least ldrs had the sense to look at the process and see that we could be more efficient. Instead of crying about blues Monday how about acting like you enjoy the PRIVILEGE of wearing the uniform. These forums make us look like jackals by giving people who should keep their mouths closed a voice

SMSgt F., Fort Dix NJ

10/10/2012 10:09:06 PM ET
This is awesome please tell tell me that the AMU's are now going to fall back under the Ops squadrons

SMSgt US, DMAFB

10/10/2012 7:34:34 PM ET
@Lt Col DOits obvious you have no real idea what the support side of the house does. I was in an MSSFSS when Big AF made the decision to do away with CSSs in favor of technology. They dumped that workload back into the MPFs but guess what the manpower didnt go with it. The slots had been turned in to pay for the technology. What you dont see is that for the majority of our customers it is not a fix-it-on-the-spot issue. Almost every in-person visit phone call or email requires some kind of follow-up action but wait my guys couldnt do that right then because they had other customers phone calls and emails waiting. This is not whining and it's not saying we had it worse than other career fields its just fact. We saw customers from 0730 to 1630 and often later because we hated turning folks away and then we would stick around for an extra hour or 2 to try and catch up before starting all over again the next day. We couldnt ever close for an hour or 2 to catch up bec

KM, OCONUS

10/10/2012 2:22:18 PM ET
Everything old is new again. The terrible debit card GTC idea consolidating finance at Ellsworth now the CSS. It might take a little while for leadership to reverse the damage caused by their predecessors.Next two ideas on the list for reversalBlues Monday goes away and aircraft maintenance goes back under ops where it belongs.

John Peterson, Burpleson AFB

10/10/2012 1:01:40 PM ET
This sounds all well and good but take a look at what they are proposing. There is no additional manpower added to our 300 person squadron. They are just changing the AFSCs of the two civilians in our front office and calling it a CSS. It's not doing more with less it's doing more with what you have currently. I'm sure this will lead to another degrade in service from the FSS claiming we have the people to do their work now.

Lt Col DO, JB MDL

10/9/2012 11:47:10 PM ET
Can the Air Force make just one decision and stick with it They should have never gotten rid of the CSS and now Lt Gen Jones sounds like it's this grand new idea

Shawn, Pushing boots...

10/9/2012 7:20:33 PM ET
Hallelujah

Chief Swede, Texas

10/9/2012 4:47:20 PM ET
Looks like the pendulum is on the return swing Hopefully we'll keep the CSS staff at the squadron...at least for the next decade or so.

Maj, US

10/9/2012 3:42:18 PM ET
How funny Again the Air Force is admitting they messed up a perfectly good and vital program. Welcome back CCQ

Backintheday, Orderly Room

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