Spread the Word briefing visits Columbus Published Feb. 27, 2009 By Senior Airman Jacob Corbin 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- An Air Force Personnel Center Spread the Word Briefing Team visited Columbus Air Force Base Feb. 23. The team was here to "spread the word" about various AFPC concerns, including the move of personnel services to a centralized service center, deployment issues, uniform changes and issue/challenges that will be coming up in the future. "The Air Force's top priority is taking care of Airmen and their families," said Col. James Weimer, AFPC deputy director of assignments. He said the briefings are to give Airmen and their families the "benefit of information in a changing Air Force." The colonel said currently the Air Force, due to having less personnel Airmen, is going from a system where what was once done at the base level, will now be handled at AFPC's call center. Things like retraining applications and assignment preferences are now handled by the individual Airmen, while more complicated issues like promotion verification are done at the call center. Base-level personnel centers will still handle day-to-day operations such as issuing I.D. cards, he said. The AFPC team also focused on deployments, including the 365-day deployment system. They said the system came about by combining aspects of a permanent change of station with a standard deployment. In addition, they went over the new deployment banding system that is replacing the standard AEF system. Paula Blackwell, a briefer with the Civilian Force Integration Directorate, also said that they're working on improving the civilian hire system. "We're working to do a better job and speed up the process," she said. For anyone who missed the AFPC Spread the Word Campaign briefing, it can be watched as briefed by Maj. Gen. K.C. McClain at the AFPC homepage http://ask.afpc.randolph.af.mil.