81st FSS wins three AETC awards for 2011

Published Jan. 4, 2012
By Steve Hoffmann
81st Training Wing Public Affairs

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- The 81st Force Support Squadron received three 2011 Air Education and Training Command manpower and personnel awards for fiscal 2011.

Staff Sgt. Jacob Williams was named NCO of the year in customer support. Keesler also had the top manpower and organization program and professional development program.

While deployed to Afghanistan, Williams conducted 100 joint service briefs for 9,000 incoming service members ensuring 100 percent accountability. He reclassified more than 140 nonprior service Airmen averaging less than one day processing time which surpassed AETC's goal of two days. Williams coordinated with the 81st Training Wing to move initial safety training to the student processing center, eliminating student transit time and saving the Air Force more than $24,000 annually.

Williams volunteered to help reconfigure and install more than 300 new computer systems which helped make the entire squadron Microsoft Vista compliant. He audited a $1 million basic allowance program which led to the identification of 26 members who weren't receiving basic allowance, resulting in more than $8,500 in awards.

Williams has been accepted into a global business management masters degree program and has completed 15 hours with a 3.5 grade point average. He also coordinated a bingo day for patients at the Biloxi Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

The manpower and organization section managed more than 4,700 numbered Air Force, wing and group authorizations valued at $520 million. Additionally, it built and managed 268 single-point standards and reloaded the Air Force with just under 27,000 Airmen in more than 60 Air Force Specialty Codes. The section also initiated a study for a regional confinement center with AETC approval with the addition of more than 10 authorizations. With savings to the Air Force of $250,000, the section analyzed the client systems technical contract and identified workload duplication.

The professional development flight piloted Keesler's professional enhancement programs, facilitating 59 seminars and coordinating more than 60 briefings. The flight directed First Term Airmen Center activities which included transitioning 142 newly assigned Airmen to operational Air Force. It conducted six NCO and senior NCO professional enhancement seminars which bolstered leadership and supervisory skill sets for 90 NCOs and 74 senior NCOs. The flight oversaw four professional development center renovation projects valued at more than $250,000 with no interruptions in training.