Air Force blends Military, Civilian Equal Opportunity

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Timothy Taylor
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  The Air Force recently began the process of merging its military equal opportunity and equal employment opportunity offices.

The newly merged organization will be called Equal Opportunity and will be a "one stop shop" to handle both military and civilian EO concerns, said Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Diaz, 39th Air Base Wing EO superintendent.

"With Air Force Smart Operations for the Twenty-First Century, both civilian and military EO offices have been looking for ways to operate more efficiently, said Tech. Sgt. Susan Edmonds, 39th Air Base Wing EO non-commissioned officer in charge. By merging both civilian and military offices, we'll be able to maintain full customer support in a single location with fewer people."

Prior to this merger, both offices had different procedures concerning EO issues. Airmen would address the military complaints and civilians would address civilian complaints, said Sergeant Diaz.

Although there will continue to be two different processes, now military and civilian EO technicians will be equally qualified to process either type of EO concern.

Currently, all new and retrained EO Airmen as well as all civilian EO professionals are receiving education on both military and civilian procedures.

"Along with a more efficient complaints process, the combination of these two offices will help the Air Force maximize the efforts of EO technicians, allowing a handful of them to promote Equal Opportunity awareness to the masses. We believe expanded education will lead to a more positive impact and fewer complaints", said Sergeant Edmonds.

By training military technicians on civilian EO policies and procedures, the Air Force is making EO complaints during deployments easier to tackle. In the past, when deployed military EO technicians were expected to assist with a civilian concern without civilian EO assistance, it was a challenge to handle all the aspects of an issue. With this merger, military technicians will have the training to tackle any EO complaint anywhere.

The Air Force has a zero tolerance policy toward unlawful discrimination and sexual harassment. With the changes to the EO program, Incirlik will have a cadre of EO trained military and civilian personnel who can ensure all Air Force personnel are afforded equal opportunities under the law.