IG Team nominates three best practices Published May 16, 2007 By Airman 1st Class Tiffany Colburn 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- The 2007 USAFE Unit Compliance Inspection team offered three units more reason to celebrate in addition to the wing's overall "Excellent" rating - best practice nominations. The 39th Air Base Wing's nominated programs include: The 39th ABW Legal Office Electronic Filing Income Tax Assistant Program, the 39th Contracting Squadron Training Tool Program and the 39th Logistics Readiness Squadron Mobility Bags Program. The new tax assistant program enabled Airman to accomplish their mission by cutting extra-duty time in half while saving money. "The program saved nearly 1,500 extra-duty man hours base wide by cutting the number of volunteers/workers needed to run the program in half," said Capt. Shane McCammon, 39th ABW legal officer. "In addition, the program saved more than $7,000 in supplies and salary for a civilian over hire." The program enabled taxpayers to have round-the-clock assistance while also helping them prepare and file their own returns. "This year's tax program wasn't about doing more with less. It was about doing more with more - providing more tax assistance than in the past with resources that had already been paid for by the Department of Defense," said Captain McCammon. "And while Incirlik is the first base to fully utilize the different electronic filing resources that are available, it's nomination as an Air Force-wide best practice puts Incirlik as the pace setter for the rest of the Air Force to emulate." The 39th CONS also returned time to their Airmen by combining their Career Field Education and Training Plan with online training courses. "Our feedback indicates that the biggest pay back is time. People are having more time to do their jobs during the established duty hours, thus giving them more time with their families, and for many folks you can't put a price on that," said Technical Sgt. Phyllis Coburn-Harriel, 39th CONS Contingency Operations and Training flight chief. It took approximately six months to implement the program after the idea was developed by Senior Master Sgt. Lori Washington, 39th CONS, superintendent/first sergeant. Since implementation the program has brought about many significant changes. "The most significant change I would say is the ability to maximize any learning opportunity to fulfill multiple requirements," said Sergeant Coburn-Harriel. "We are federally mandated to obtain 40 Continuous Learning Points each fiscal year. So enabling the contracting professional to obtain core and duty task certification and meet CLP requirements simultaneously is huge." "The way we have designed our training program has not only allowed us to validate an individuals' ability to master a core or duty-related task in accordance with the Career Field Education and Training Plan, but it also facilitates our ability to obtain those mandated CLPs as well," she said. "The online courses serve as a precursor to hands-on application of that task." Using online courses also helps prepare them to better serve their customers. "As a supervisor I believe this process will benefit everyone in the career field. With the high ops tempo for contracting and especially at Incirlik," said Sergeant Coburn-Harriel. While the Legal Office and Contracting Squadron initiatives save time and money, the 39th LRS mobility bag program focused on another aspect important to Airmen - force protection. "We changed the green bags that contained C-1 and C-2 assets to a black bag so that personnel deploying through commercial airlines will not stand out so much," said Staff Sgt. Howard Prater, 39th Logistics Readiness Squadron Mobility Bags Technician. The program was developed by Tech. Sgt. Fitzgerald Davis, LRS NCO in charge of mobility and was implemented in about four weeks. "In this day and age it's the small details that we need to pay close attention to," said Sergeant Prater.