RAFINO

RAFINO Report
ISSUE 24 - Spring 2000
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ARMY’S INITIATION OF UNISEX RECEPTION STATION PROCESSING.

By Douglas Lawhorn

As most of my colleagues know, I participated a lot in the implementation and organization for processing pay under JUMPS ARMY. In February 1971, I had just returned from my tour in Vietnam and was assigned to the US Army Finance Center.

Under Colonel James Stringer, we were assisting in the assurance of quality and accuracy in the implementation of JUMPS.  In short order, the preparation for and implementation of JUMPS started. This lasted for about a year then we started assisting the various field offices with their organization to insure accurate input to the JUMPS computer. I spent the next two and one half years going around the world five times.

During these times, we had a lot of people trying to insure that the system was fool proof and covered all aspects of the US Army pay requirements. There had been other tests and trial systems, which acted as front runners to assure that all pay items were covered by JUMPS.

In June 1973, I was selected to go to Ft. Jackson as the F&AO there. It was unique, in that, of the whole team of individuals working on the JUMPS implementation, I was the first to leave and take over a field office implemented under JUMPS. The office was well staffed with dedicated and knowledgeable personnel. As had been quoted in the local newspaper, we processed the soldier "from the womb to the tomb", because in addition to the in-processing center, we had the Basic and Advanced Training, plus one of three US Army out-processing points receiving soldiers from outside CONUS for discharge. The system was working fine. Paying 33,000 trainees each payday was consuming an inordinate amount of time and had to be streamlined.

One of our suggestions, that were favorably implemented (Thanks to Colonel Ralph Dixon), was to have the Treasury Checks for trainees printed for endorsement on the front of the check rather than having the Class A Agent turn it over for signature. That is another story.

Who would have thought that after 200 years the US Army would decide to process newly recruited female, as well as, male soldiers through the same processing center.

Well, at first we saw no problem to this change. In October 1973, a female Company was formed at Ft Jackson, however, it was not until January 1974 that the first bus load showed up to actually fill that company. Initially, the only difficulty was getting the Reception Station personnel to be careful enough to insure that each soldier was identified correctly as to male or female. This is a point that they were not use to focusing on, but soon this problem all but disappeared.

However, there was one problem that did appear that is still not corrected as of the year 2000. That problem refers to the additional initial clothing allowance necessary for the female soldier. Of course, the basic apparel is issued to both soldiers; however, there are requirements for the female soldier to have additional items that are not necessary for the male. To our discovery and dismay, this item was not included on the JUMPS system nor was there a military code set up to interpret it.

The female soldier needs some of these items at the time of entry on active duty. We had always provided the new recruit with what we referred to as the first flying $50 when he arrived. He could use this for extra towels or as spending money. Our first problem was getting the Reception Center personnel to provide us the number of females processing in on any given day so that we could provide them the first $55 payment against this initial clothing allowance. Coordination in this area soon solved the problem.

The full complement of these additional items was specifically required prior to graduation. Therefore, by the 5th week of training, we had to furnish the additional $177.99 so they could be ready to participate in the graduation exercises. This is the current year 2000 amount, which changes almost every year. We never did find out why this item was not included on JUMPS but it made the payment processing very difficult for the Pay Section of the office. Since it was a clothing thing, it was probably covered by supply regulations and therefore was never incorporated into the military pay side of the house. It was processed on a SF 1034. This is normally an Accounts Payable Section process but since they were use to contracts and receipts, and since this was a military pay problem, they were not required to develop procedures to accommodate it. We did request that JUMPS be programmed to handle this payment, but we were not successful.

In preparing this story about the trials of a field office, I didn't trust my memory from 26 years ago. Therefore, I did some coordination with the Ft Jackson office on the problem and its current status. Not surprisingly, I found most of my people were not there anymore. There were still some that could remember the problem. The problem still exists today and is being paid separately from the Rome, NY office.

Coincidentally, and prior to my coordination,a follow up inquiry had been initiated in January 2000 and DFAS indicated that the priority was very low and it probably would not be done until the consolidation of the pay system with all the other Services.