KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Col. Jeffrey A. Van Dootingh hosted his first civilian commander’s call Aug. 6 at the Roberts Consolidated Maintenance Facility Auditorium.
The 403rd Wing commander, who took command June 9, started the event recognizing civil service members who received their 10 and 20-year service certificates and highlighted some employee resources and benefit programs.
“This was an opportunity to not only recognize some of our employees’ service, but to also discuss some upcoming events, award programs, and important topics that impact your lives and future,” he said.
The 10-year service certificate recipients included Air Reserve Technicians:
- Col. Jay Johnson, 403rd Maintenance Group commander
- Master Sgt. Adrian Barlow, 41st Aerial Port Squadron
- Master Sgt. Tammy Campbell, 403rd Aeromedical Staging Squadron
- And, civilian employee Jimmy Howard, 403rd Finance Office
The following ARTs received their 20-year certificates:
- Lt. Col. Marnee A.C. Losurdo, 403rd Wing Public Affairs
- Master Sgt. Tammy Campbell, 403rd ASTS
- Tech. Sgt. Kenric Graves, 403rd Maintenance Squadron
After the presentations, he mentioned upcoming events, to include the weekly Leadership Lunch and Learn series and annual wing awards banquet in February. He also brought in guest speakers to cover civilian benefits topics such as the employee assistance program, or EAP, and retirement planning.
Elizabeth Waters, 81st Training Wing community service coordinator, is the installation point of contact for the Civilian Employee Assistance Program.
“We all have stressors in our daily lives; they can be little things or big things that we need to take care of,” she said.
The EAP is a service that can help members with some of these stressors. EAP is a confidential counseling, legal, financial and referral service that can help employees and their families deal with life’s challenges and are available at no cost 24-hours a day, year round, said Waters. The EAP website is FOH4you.com.
Another resource is WorkLife4You.com, which can help employees manage life events such as child and adult care, health and wellness and other every day needs. For more information on these two programs call 1-800-222-0364 or contact Waters at 228-377-9021 or elizabeth.waters@us.af.mil.
Finances can be another stressor for employees, but Lisa Vincent can help with that. She is a personal financial counselor at Keesler Air Force Base and assists civilian employees, active-duty, Reserve and Guard members with financial and retirement planning.
“My primary role is one-on-one financial readiness counseling,” said Vincent. “I also offer tools and resources to set service members up for long term financial success.”
She offers counseling and briefings around all financial planning topics such as establishing and repairing credit, debt repayment strategies, budgeting, retirement planning to include helping members understand the Thrift Savings Plan, TSP, and the Blended Retirement System. Call her at 228-213-0172 or email her at pfckeesler.usaf@zeiders.com
The commander closed the event by encouraging members to submit their employees for quarterly awards and addressed questions from the audience. The commander said some of the questions brought up in the civilian call would be topics for future Leadership Lunch and Learn sessions.