Feedback Fridays

Feedback Fridays is a weekly forum that aims to connect the 502d Air Base Wing with members of the Joint Base San Antonio community. Questions are collected during commander’s calls, town hall meetings and throughout the week.

If you have a question or concern, please send an email to RandolphPublicAffairs@us.af.mil using the subject line “Feedback Fridays.” Questions will be further researched and published as information becomes available.

Personnel Issues

Q. My question concerns civilian in-processing. Most civilians have to in-process at a location that may or may not be their duty location. My concern is that once they process the base, they then must process at the squadron, which may be at a separate location. Why can’t we consolidate in-processing to one location for both base and squadron?

A. Great question for our newcomers! Currently, initial in-processing for all new civilian employees is with our primary servicing Civilian Personnel Section, or CPS, located at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston. Fortunately, newcomers will only have to visit the Civilian Personnel Section at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston one time before travelling to their primary duty location.

In order to provide better service to meet mission requirements, the 502d ABW has employees across Joint Base San Antonio to better accommodate newcomer and continuous employee services (e.g. CACs, finance and Civilian Personnel questions) at your respective duty location. In-processing with the squadron is up to the squadron commander’s discretion; therefore, in-processing requirements may vary from organization to organization.

Q. What are the rules and regulations for NAF employees working on family days? In the past, we have been forced to use our annual leave or take leave without pay if our supervisor was not working, and I wondered if that was legal. I know some APF and NAF employees that can work either way, so I just wanted to check and ask about the official rules.

A. Thank you for your question! Currently, the liberal leave policy is utilized for AETC Family Days. If a facility closes and the employee would like to work their normal scheduled hours, management should find an alternate duty location for the employee. We encourage you to coordinate with your supervisor to accommodate your request.

Installation & Facilities

Q. Is there a plan to repave some of the roads on Randolph? I think almost everyone will agree the road between the AAFES gas station and Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union is one of the worst on base, but many others need repair.

A. Thank you for your question! The road you mention, which is a priority for repairs in fiscal year 2019, is being developed for contract award and has been funded. We anticipate starting repairs this spring pending temperature and weather.

In addition to this road, Civil Engineers executed various FY18 paving projects to include 5th Street West and Golf Road. Paving efforts throughout JBSA are an ongoing priority in order to ensure safe and operational transportation networks.

Q. Is there a plan to start making progress on updating the main Fort Sam Houston Child Development Center, building 2530? The air conditioning is always out, the front door is broken and mosquitos were everywhere this summer. There are also leaks throughout the building. It's very old and needs a lot of work. What are your suggestions?

A. Our CE team attempted to be repair the broken door in-house, but ultimately determined a full replacement was needed. Since this is a non-standard door, the replacement had to be designed and fabricated by contract. The fabricated parts are due in later this month and the replacement is scheduled to be complete by the end of January.

Additionally, CE identified a failing overhead water source heat pump as the source of the leaks and climate control issues. This heat pump was replaced in November, but its effective operation is impacted by the broken door. As soon as the door is replaced, the systems should operate as designed.

Q. For the past few months, the JBSA-Lackland Library has not had consistent Internet access. It's been out for days, even weeks, at a time. When asked, the staff says it's a problem with AT&T. Is anyone or any agency on JBSA-Lackland checking on it, pushing to restore it, or docking AT&T's payments?

A. Thank you for bringing this problem to our attention. Fortunately, Internet access has been restored! We currently have full internet service to the JBSA-Lackland Library for customer use. Unfortunately, we did experience intermittent difficulties with our internet. However, thanks to team work with our local 502^nd Communication Squadron, we were able to remedy the error to ensure we restore full Internet service for our library patrons.

Miscellaneous

Q. In the past month it's become virtually impossible to send any email that has any number in it without a pop up identifying it as a potential SSN. It's very time consuming to send emails because of the sensitivity of the system – very frustrating. If you receive the email you have to type in a password just to read which vacancy is available because the announcement has a number attached – no PII.

A. Thanks for asking the question; it allows me to give everyone a little background on why we do some of the things we do with the network. We are constantly working towards finding the right balance between freedom of movement and protecting sensitive info.

Everyone is responsible for safeguarding, managing, and handling Personally Identifiable Information, or PII, to avoid an inadvertent disclosure or accidental data breach. Last year, the Air Force saw a large spike in mishandling PII, which drove the cyber community to tighten the rules on the Digital Signature Enforcement Tool, or DSET. DSET is an enterprise solution put in place to help reduce PII risk and unauthorized disclosure by flagging potential PII.

Additionally, the Cyberspace Defense Analysis, or CDA, is a network defense weapon system designed to monitor, collect, analyze and report information transmitted via unsecure telecommunications systems to determine whether sensitive or classified information is being transmitted and conduct information damage assessment.

Current CDA sensors analyze mail traffic for emails containing groups of nine digit numbers and common names. These emails are automatically blocked from being sent out of the Air Force network. If an email is blocked but does not contain PII, please submit a Remedy ticket through your unit's Cyber Liaison, Client Service Technician, or through the 502d Communications Squadron's Comm Focal Point at 210-925-2666. Tickets will be routed to the 26 Network Operations Squadron's Domain Name System Team to resolve the false block.

Q. Is it possible to open base clubs, primarily the Gateway Club on JBSA-Lackland, every other Saturday from 5:30 to 11 p.m. for the community? For most soldiers, veterans and their families, they are too tired after a long work week to utilize our entertainment facilities on most Fridays. Opening the club every other Saturday will give our community a safe and enjoyable place for military family members to go on dates, listen to music and bands, eat, etc.

A. Thanks for your suggestion to open the Gateway Club on Saturday nights. I appreciate your patronage and encourage all of our JBSA teammates to use our clubs and community center at JBSA-Lackland, JBSA-Randolph and JBSA-Fort Sam Houston for their dining and recreational needs.  

Unfortunately, the Air Force recently changed its club membership program which reduced the amount of revenue generated by JBSA-Lackland Club by approximately $250,000 annually. In response to this dramatic reduction in the club operating budget, the manager was forced to make difficult decisions about which programs to offer and which to eliminate.  

When we reviewed past customer counts and sales figures from Saturday lounge operations, we determined we could no longer afford to open on Saturdays. Just to give you a glimpse of what we considered: Saturday operating costs included a DJ, bartender, bar back and duty manager and those costs/salaries routinely exceeded the sales generated on any given Saturday. That said, if you have a large group of people who wish to use the club on a Saturday, please contact the Gateway Club manager, Cindy Cosner, who will work with you to satisfy your needs.

Thanks again for your question and for allowing me to highlight the financial challenges our clubs face in light of the Air Force-wide drop in membership.

Q. Is there a reason our building receives so many JBSA Legacy newspapers every week? I work in building 399, and we have two bundles of papers waiting for us at the door every Friday; however, half a bundle would suffice for our building. It seems like such a waste for so many to be printed, especially when they are offered online.

A. Thank you for the great question! The 502d Air Base Wing Public Affairs Office works diligently to bring the most current and useful news to readers across Joint Base San Antonio each week.