Finance funds mission success

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Shane M. Phipps
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  With more than 130 different career fields in the Air Force, many Airmen find themselves much closer to a desk, in key support roles, than to the cockpit of an aircraft.

One group of Airmen well versed in their supporting role is the dedicated members of the 30th Comptroller Squadron.

"We are a team of professional financial leaders who ensure the financial health of the wing mission, as well as the people who perform it," said Lt. Col. Brian Sandidge, 30th CPTS commander. "Every single mission starts with an objective, a price tag to meet that objective, and a well planned and executed budget to meet the objective. One of our priorities is to connect Team Vandenberg to quality financial services and operations required to accomplish the mission."

CPTS leadership understands that, while their team isn't providing Close Air Support, their diligence aims to ensure financial distractions don't impede overall mission success.

"What makes the CPTS so special are the things we do for our customers enable them to focus more on their primary duties," said Senior Master Sgt. Brian Evanczik, 30th CPTS superintendent. "If someone is worried about their personal finances because their pay isn't right or they haven't been reimbursed for that (Temporary Duty) entitlement, that's going to affect the home front. If things aren't squared away at home, that's going to take their mind off of what they're doing during the job.  If we're doing our job, people can be more mission-focused."

For most finance Airmen, the most challenging obstacle is known as the fiscal year closeout where multiple organizations come together to balance an entire base's budget from the previous year.

"The fiscal year 2014 closeout was an unqualified success thanks not only to the CPTS team, but also thanks to a large cast of dedicated professionals across the wing," said Sandidge. "The business operations that enable successful mission accomplishment are a team effort between CPTS, the Contracting Squadron, the Plans and Programs office, and Group Resource Advisors and Program Managers. All of these units worked closely together to ensure a smooth closeout. The outstanding team effort allowed the 30th SW to quickly execute year-end funds, which enabled the wing to receive additional funds from Air Force Space Command Headquarters on the last day. The additional funds allowed the wing to accomplish every single unfunded requirement on our end of year list with the exception of one. It was truly amazing."

Although the CPTS is a multifaceted organization, its Airmen take a special interest in one specific aspect - quality customer service.

"Customer service is job one, bar none," said Evanczik. "Whether our customer is someone in our finance lobby needing assistance with their TDY voucher or the wing commander trying to get funding for a new project, our job is to provide the best fiscal support possible. We always want to hear about the service we provide, good or bad, so we can strive to do the best job possible in serving our customers."

 

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