Photo By Christopher Carranza | Sarah Standish, budget technician, works on travel vouchers from home March 27, 2020...... read more read more
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KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --
Whether it’s working from the office or home, due to COVID-19 or inclement weather, such as Tropical Storm Cristobal, the 403rd Wing Finance Office ensures Reserve Citizen Airmen are paid and wing funds are utilized responsibly and efficiently in support of the mission.
“In the Reserve, finance does a little bit of everything, with the times we are in ‘doing more with less,’ you do what you have to and get the mission done,” said Barry Argento, the 403rd Wing comptroller and budget officer. “Our primary mission is getting Airmen paid and paying the bills, regardless of a pandemic or severe weather.”
Sometimes technicians work multiple duties such as travel vouchers, military pay and assisting with orders, he said.
Argento leads an office of nine civilians and eight reservists, which services approximately 1,500 Airmen.
With 36 years of federal civil service, Argento said that he has had to work from home on occasion due to severe weather, but not in response to a pandemic.
There were challenges working from home during COVID-19, said Argento.
“Our biggest challenge has been connectivity, specifically (Virtual Private Network), because we have specific systems we need access to, but there are multiple ways to figure out workarounds,” he said.
The workarounds he said, were office phones call-forwarded to personal phones, email, and if necessary, appointments made for in-person visits. And on occasion, minimal staff worked from the office if connectivity was too degraded. In addition, group chats have helped keep the flow of information and everyone on the same page.
“I’ve enjoyed teleworking, mainly because I have less distractions at home,” said Sarah Standish, budget technician. “Connectivity was the biggest challenge for the first couple of weeks working from home, but after network updates and additional server options on VPN work connectivity has become more streamlined.”
Standish said this experience has taught them how to overcome distancing themselves physically, but not virtually to ensure members are receiving the services needed.
“Teleworking has kept us safe and socially distant, while continuing to keep our Airmen paid and mission funded, in and out of the office,” said Argento.
| Date Taken: | 06.09.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 08.11.2020 15:29 |
| Story ID: | 375764 |
| Location: | KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Web Views: | 9 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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