Personnel accountability system live AF-wide; May exercise planned

  • Published
  • By Maj. Beth Kelley Horine
  • Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The Air Force implemented the Air Force Personnel Accountability and Assessment System April 1, a new program to improve global disaster personnel accountability management, reporting and case management across the Force, and plans to test the system in a force-wide exercise May 19-21.

"The May exercise will evaluate AFPAAS to ensure the Air Force is truly ready for the 2009 hurricane season," said Tim Beyland, Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower and Personnel.
Designed to synchronize Air Force reporting with the Department of Defense's accountability system, AFPAAS meets combatant commander and DoD requirements for personnel tracking by ensuring accountability of all Air Force personnel--to include active duty Airmen and family members, Guardsmen, Reservists, most civilians, and contractors overseas.

"The only civilian employees not currently required to use AFPAAS are bargaining employees, due to union requirements," said Maj. Romero Reid, Air Force Personnel Directorate Current Operations Branch deputy chief, "but they still must continue to report their accountability status as normal and their Unit Control Center will, in turn, update AFPAAS. We are pursuing coordination with the labor unions to allow bargaining unit employees to use AFPAAS."

An Air Force-wide exercise held March 16-20 tested the AFPAAS system. The exercise allowed Air Force leaders to identify lessons learned and work through some issues before the program went live April 1.

The March exercise achieved its goal to orient and familiarize the Air Force with AFPAAS, according to Major Reid. "Over 750,000 members were accounted for in the system--this was a huge success," he said.

"However, we're not done yet. The exercise showed the need for one last fine-tuning exercise before the 2009 hurricane season," Major Reid added, referring to the planned May exercise.

Lessons learned submitted from the March exercise highlighted challenges related to training, labor relations, privacy concerns and lack of understanding of disaster accountability roles and responsibilities by commanders and members.

"These challenges are aggressively being addressed and will be closely evaluated during the May exercise," said Mr. Beyland.

The benefits of AFPAAS include allowing commanders and units to account, assess, manage and monitor the recovery and reconstitution process for personnel and their families affected and/or scattered by a wide-spread catastrophic event, every step of the way.

"AFPAAS provides valuable accountability at all levels of the Air Force chain of command, enhancing the commanders' ability to make strategic decisions," said Brian Angell, Air Force Personnel Center Personnel Readiness Cell Operations chief. It also decreases labor costs and manual steps from the previous accountability process the Air Force used, he added.

As of April 1, Air Force personnel and family members log into https://afpaas.af.mil or call 1-800-435-9941 to report individual and family member status if affected by a disaster or crisis.

"AFPAAS is a simple and secure system for all users. Anyone can input their details from any internet connection or telephone world-wide, increasing the access and ease of use for all personnel and family members," said Mr. Angell.

"However, protection of privacy is paramount, and only pre-approved trusted agents, commanders and their designated representatives with CAC access, roles and permissions can view personal information," Mr. Angell added.

Using AFPAAS also helps speed up the process to help affected family members in need of assistance. AFPAAS helps commanders identify and verify assistance/aid eligibility and entitlements for affected personnel and their families prior to or immediately following a disaster.

Web-based AFPAAS training is available for leadership, commanding officer representatives and readiness personnel, as required, and can be scheduled through major command personnel directorates. For more information about AFPAAS, visit the website at https://afpaas.af.mil, or contact your unit commander.