RAFINO Report
ISSUE 23 - Winter 1999 - Return
to Index
An Article Written by The Chief
of the Finance Corps
COL. Charles R. Walker
(Ed: Note that this article was copied from the RAFINO Web Site www.RAFINO.org.
On the internet yet? If so, check it out.)
If you pick up any professional journal-the "Army" for example,
the magazine of the Association of the United States Army, or the
"Army Times" you will quickly learn that the Army is undergoing
dramatic change. In the August 1999 issue of "Soldiers"
The Official U.S. Army Magazine, the new Chief of Staff of the Army,
General Shinseki, concedes that today's force is, "smaller and
busier, with a reduced budget and a tremendous increase in mission
requirements." Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Army has
endured a sevenfold increase in deployments. As the global
environment changes and we transition to a force projection Army, our
military operations have become increasingly joint and multinational.
Equally significant also, is the Army's effort to shape the battlefield
through information dominance. A smaller force, power projection,
increased OPTEMPO, declining resources and the proliferation of
information-age technology all combine to serve as catalysts for change.
As Army operations change to meet the challenges of the future, so too
must finance operations, if we are to reduce our footprint on the
battlefield, provide timely support and maintain our relevance to the
warfighter.
From my advantage point, the Finance Corps is in great shape to meet the
challenges that lie ahead. We are relevant to the Army today as we
have been in the past and will continue to be in the future. Our
battle tested doctrine outlined in FM 14-100, Financial Management
Operations, is absolutely sound and Force XXI compliant. Similarly, our
tailorable, modular unit design is custom made for stability and support
operations around the globe. And, when coupled with our efforts to
add our battlefield enabler, the Defense Finance Battlefield System (DFBS),
to the Army's hierarchical Communication Support System-Army (GCCS-A),
secure our place as a proven combat multiplier. We cannot rely on
past accomplishments, however, and must continually seek innovative ways
to maximize scarce resources.
As we look to the immediate horizon
and beyond, two interrelated issues demonstrate significant potential to
change how we do business. The first issue deals with the
efficiencies and economies the Army gains by using information-age
technology to complete single-source personnel and finance transactions.
Under this initiative commonly referred to as PERPAY, selected military
pay input functions will migrate from Finance to the Adjutant General
Corps via enhancements to SIDPERS-3 or its successor, the Defense
Integrated Military Human Resources System (DIMHRS) scheduled to come on
line around year 2007. What impact this change will have on our
mission, organization, and structure is the subject of multiple current
studies. The second issue deals with defining the peacetime
mission of the Finance Corps in light of the PERPAY/DIMHRS initiative and
the expanded role of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) in
financial management. Our significant challenge, in this case, being
to identify value-added functions that can be used to replace the lost
workload. To prepare for the uncertainties of the future, several
actions are already underway across each of the Doctrine, Training, Leader
development, Organization, Materiel and Soldier Systems (DTLOMS) domains,
the Army's formal process for managing change. Proposed changes to
fine tune our doctrine, the creation of classrooms without walls,
restructuring our organizations, the expansion of our mission to fully
incorporate responsibility for the resource management function, and
upgrades in our materiel inventory all offer innovative solutions to
better meet the needs of the Army.
Beyond exploring alternative structures for the delivery of our remaining
core competencies-disbursing, non-US pay, cost-capturing, banking, funding
and travel, our stated vision, focus, and enduring values will anchor us
to a foundation of continuity and strengthen everything we do. Even
more, our Corps of military and civilian professionals is second to none
and is absolutely committed to providing excellence in service to the
Army. Our emphasis on our human resources produces trained leaders,
soldiers, and civilian employees committed to the goals and objectives of
the Corps. Moreover, our people expect and deserve high quality,
stimulating training, geared to their individual and collective needs.
In the schoolhouse, our abiding commitment to making this training
available to them is our most significant investment in the future.
Our vision for the future is to conduct only the minimum training
necessary in residence and serve as the home of financial management and
education for our Corps of active duty and reserve component soldiers and
civilians. To assist in bringing this vision to fruition, we have
entered a partnership with DFAS that will enable us to become a premier
Defense Financial Management School of academic excellence, capable of
developing and presenting education and training in residence, through
mobile training, and via distance learning. With our core
competencies exercised in training, new deployments, as well as finance
units performing resource management functions, we can deliver on our
promise to the Army-
"You can't afford to go to war without us!" |
