KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- For years the Air Force has been promoting the concept of Total Force, joining together active, Guard and Reserve components wherever possible to more effectively accomplish the Air Force mission. This has been the case throughout the Air Force with force support squadrons, which over the past few years have been in the process of integrating and co-locating their units.
Capt. April Martin, 403rd Manpower and Personnel Flight commander, said the main reason for co-locating and integrating the two squadrons was to provide better service to all Air Force customers in one location. This includes active duty, reservists, air national guardsmen, veterans, retirees and dependents.
"This effort will give our customers the ability to get assistance from both Air Force components without barriers and capitalize on our personnel support for everyone, all to help make our Air Force more effective," said Martin.
The Secretary of the Air Force launched an initiative Oct. 15, 2010, to integrate personnel management systems across the Air Force’s active, Reserve and Guard components. Keesler Air Force Base began this process in October 2015, drawing on experiences from other bases that have already completed their integration.
The co-location of 403rd FSS units took place this year as a phased approach, with the 403rd Military Personnel Section, Airman and Family Readiness moving over in February, Education and Training transitioning in June, and the 403rd FSS Command Section moving in August, effectively housing the Air Force Reserve’s 403rd and active-duty 81st Force Support Squadrons under one roof at the Sablich Center here.
These Total Force Support Squadrons, as they have been called since January 2016, reflect the spirit of Air Force's Total Force Integration concept, said Martin, although they differ in that the active, Guard and Reserve components still maintain their separate chains of command. She said the integration and co-location of these squadrons is geared more toward the customer-support level rather than integrating command structures of the units themselves.
"It provides a more effective service to the Total Force customer," said Martin.
Maj. Tamara Kidd, 81st Force Support Squadron, noted that three other multi-component bases already demonstrated the ability to serve Total Force Airmen through their continuing efforts to streamline the FSS integration process. In 2014, Peterson Air Force Base integrated the active-duty 21st and Reserve 302nd FSS, March Air Reserve Base integrated the Reserve 452nd and Air National Guard 163rd FSS, and Pease Air National Guard Base integrated the 157th FSS and active-duty 64th Air Refueling Squadron.
According to Martin, force support squadrons at Peterson AFB laid groundwork for the integration process since they were the first base to complete its integration. Martin said Peterson’s FSS personnel provided advice and templates for Keesler and other bases to use to ease the integration process.
Now that the co-location side of the integration is complete, Martin said the next phase is for active and Reserve personnel to train side-by-side to integrate their systems so that all components can gain a better understanding of how to service the Air Force customers, since this essentially means more FSS personnel would be available to serve the total force.
"It takes time, it takes training, and it takes systems access. There's a whole realm of things that need to be laid out before you can actually service a different customer," said Martin.
According to Martin, training is about 30 percent complete and scheduled to be accomplished by February 2017.
Senior Master Sgt. Brett Blanchard, 403rd FSS force development superintendent and chief of education and training, noted the benefits of working together with his active-duty counterparts at the 81st FSS.
"The biggest advantage in working hand-in-hand with the active duty is that they're very knowledgeable, very friendly, and very passionate about education," said Blanchard.
Blanchard noted that joining forces with other force support squadrons is an ongoing process, one with the ultimate goal of providing better support to the Air Force customer.