Military pay comes back to 50th Space Wing finance

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Patrice Clarke
  • 50th Space Wing Public Affairs
SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. --  For more than three years the military pay services for Schriever military members and active duty Air Force members alike, have been handled at the Air Force Financial Services Center at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D. All this changes Aug. 25 when military pay service reverts back to base-level financial service offices.

Before, members with changes to military pay entitlements (most often as a result of deployment or permanent change of station) would submit all their paperwork to the local finance office where it would then be sent to the Air Force Financial Services Center for processing.

According to the Air Force Financial Services Center fact sheet, the center provides customer service and supports more than 389,000 Active Duty and Reserve military and civilian customers throughout the world. It will still be responsible for processing temporary and permanent duty travel and was responsible for military pay transactions. It currently services 82 locations both in the continental U.S. and overseas.

"Everything military pay related would go up to the Financial Services Center for approval and processing," said 2nd. Lt. David Merrill, 50th Comptroller Squadron financial services officer. "Base level financial services offices were the liaison between the customer and services center but we had very little control in the services center processes."

The process would also be slowed if there were any changes or adjustments that needed to be corrected on the forms forwarded to the center.

"All those addendums would need to be forwarded to the center," said Merrill. "It really made providing good customer service a challenge."

Now, all military pay services will be submitted and processed through the local finance office.

"The change is going to be beneficial to customers," said Merrill. "This will allow for faster transaction processing and ultimately faster military pay service resolutions."

Though the process will be seamless for the user, members visiting finance may be seeing some new faces.

"With military pay reverting back to the wings, some of the manning currently at the services center at Ellsworth will potentially be moved back to the bases," said Capt. Stephen Gray, 50 CPTS commander. "This is great for wing personnel. With the process back at the wing, we have full ownership of the process and will be able to provide better service to our customers."

Gray stressed that though military pay services are reverting back to the wing, all temporary and permanent duty travel services will still be processed at the service center.