
DATE: Thursday, May 29, 1997                TAG: 9705280496

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Military 

SOURCE: BY CHARLENE CASON, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: HAMPTON                           LENGTH:   72 lines

AN TEAM AT LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED FOR DEVELOPING A PAYROLL SYSTEM TO BE USED AWAY FROM HOME BASE.

Five senior enlisted men and officers stationed at Langley Air Force Base recently hammered home the cost-saving concept when they brought in a project for 1/600th of its estimated budget.

The Air Combat Command's financial management team saved nearly all of the $6 million set aside to develop a laptop computer system when it did the job for only $10,000.

The Langley team was presented with Vice President Al Gore's Golden Hammer Award, which is given ``to teams of government employees who make significant contributions in support of reinventing government principles.'' In other words, the award is recognition for saving the government money.

The award was presented by Secretary of the Air Force Sheila Widnall.

The Automated Battlefield System packs an entire comptroller office into a couple of laptop computers, disks and small satellite dishes. The system can be deployed to any field unit in the world. In the past, such an office would have taken an entire truck full of paper.

Gen. Richard Hawley, commander of the Air Combat Command, said, ``This system is simple. It uses off-the-shelf equipment. And it can go anywhere in the world in a suitcase.''

In the past, Air Force financial specialists deployed with file cabinets and trunks full of paper records to help them do the payroll, write checks and answer payroll questions from service members.

``We used to deploy with a paper checkbook good for $1 million,'' said team member Master Sgt. Rich Maschak. ``But the funds were frozen until we returned and reconciled our accounts on a computer.''

An agent would have to mail or fax financial questions back to the garrison, he said, then wait for answers to return the same way. A problem could take weeks to resolve.

``This is a really big deal,'' Widnall said. ``Our financial management people have come to rely absolutely on computer systems in their offices. When these are taken away from them in the field, it's like taking away an artist's brush or a carpenter's tools.

``Our troops have enough to worry about in the field without worrying about finances.''

The new laptop system, field-tested in Haiti in 1994, taps into the Internet through satellites. The link allows deployed finance offices to call up the same information as their counterparts at bases in the United States. Information is ``secured'' in computers by encrypting passwords, said Capt. Dave Babyak, another team member.

Advantages include a guaranteed on-time payroll, quick and efficient answers to financial questions, in-field reconciliation of accounts and up-to-the-minute reports to wing commanders. An added benefit is freeing up valuable airlift space on planes when 400 pounds of paperwork are left at home.

In the past - Desert Storm, for instance - financial specialists were unable to answer pay questions for members of services other than their own, said team member Senior Master Sgt. Wayne Sidell. The Automated Battlefield System, however, can handle not only Air Force money matters, but also those from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

Air Force financial management team members who developed the system are Col. Robert Adams, Lt. Col. Chuck Thomas, Babyak, Sidell and Maschak. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by VICKI CRONIS PHOTOS/The Virginian-Pilot

Staff Sgt. Ed Harvey, left, and Master Sgt. Richard Dale use laptop

computers to demonstrate the Automated Battlefield System. The

system - which earned Vice President Al Gore's Golden Hammer Award

- cost 1/600th of its estimated budget.

Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall, center, attends the Automated

Battlefield System demonstration at Langley Air Force Base, where it

was developed. It changes the way units can do business in the

field.