Crunching numbers - Team Mildenhall closes out fiscal 2008

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Tracy L. DeMarco
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF Mildenhall, England --  On the eve of fiscal 2009, finance professionals prepared for a long night of work known to them as closeout. Members of the 100th Air Refueling Wing Comptroller Squadron, the local comptroller from the 501st Combat Support Wing, RAF Alconbury, and various resource managers across the base set out to crunch numbers, spend dollars, and file documents.

Col. Eden J. Murrie, 100th Air Refueling Wing commander, and Chief Master Sgt. Michael Warner, 100th ARW Command Chief Master Sergeant, stopped by to encourage the team before sunset.

As if supporting a small family of bears going into hibernation, the comptroller conference room was crowded with cuisine. Budget analysts huddled in offices to collaborate while wearing lapel pins adorned with funny sayings such as, "I love budget analysts," "Trust me I'm a budget analyst," or "Budget analysts rock." Tech. Sgt. Laura Moore purchased the pins to boost team morale. This is her 12th closeout in her career.

Airman 1st class Tameka Mann, on the other hand, was embarking on her first closeout adventure.

"I expected it to be very stressful and it was, but not to the point that I couldn't handle it," said Airman Mann, who wore a pin that read, "When I grow up I want to be a budget analyst."

"I didn't expect documents to come in as late as 10:30 p.m. I thought it was fun, stressful, and exciting all at the same time."

At the other end of the building, with a different perspective, Brian Rayner, the resource advisor for the 100th Communications Squadron said, "This is the most stress-free closeout I've known." Mr. Rayner has endured six RAF Mildenhall closeouts.

"We've been working towards this since May," he said. "It's like building a jigsaw puzzle, and this [night] is the last piece - a nice piece of blue sky," he said.

Along with his fellow resource advisors who comprise the 100th Mission Support Group resource advisor cell, Mr. Rayner contributed the smooth nature of this year's closeout to their collocation with finance.

Earlier this year in April, several wing staff agencies and a significant portion of the 100th MSG moved into what is now known as the 100th ARW headquarters building. Since the move, Mr. Rayner said that the relationships between the resource advisors and the budget analysts have greatly improved.

The night wore on -- clocks kept ticking, analysts kept analyzing, and money kept moving. Occasionally a burst of laughter could be heard from one of the offices or two comptrollers could be witnessed giving each other a high five. The finance team even had a few visitors during the night, including Col. Scott Brumbaugh, 100th ARW vice commander and Sparky the Fire Dog.

"It was certainly not a painful closeout," said Capt. Joshua Weed, 100th ARW budget officer. "We did all the heavy lifting the Friday before, sort of a mini closeout to get ahead." This closeout was Captain Weed's first base level closeout.

The finance department is a mixture of people and experience and could be broken down into thirds: one third Airmen, one third Ministry of Defence civilians, and one third Department of Defense civilians.

"People rose to the occasion," Captain Weed said. "For me to get here mid-July and to shepherd this crew to closeout a nearly $100 million budget is an amazing experience. We were well postured with the commander's priorities in place even before I arrived."

The 100th Comptroller Squadron commander certified the fiscal 2008 accounting records with a letter to U.S. Air Forces in Europe and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service Oct. 4. That marked the final closeout for this year and the preparation for closeout 2009 begins.