AF-level team gets Airmen’s insights at Peterson Published Aug. 11, 2008 By Senior Airman Stephen Collier 21st Space Wing Public Affairs PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Everyone's heard the old lament: "If only there were 25 hours in a day..." Talking to Airmen around today's Air Force, it's one you'll likely hear often, thanks to deployments, extra duties and mundane tasks. Well, the Air Force wants to change that. The Airmen's Time Assessment Team will visit Peterson Aug. 11-12 as part of an effort to solve any problems Airmen might be having with work overload. The team, assembled by Lt. Gen. Richard Newton III at the Pentagon, is made of members from the Headquarters, Air Force A1 staff. Leading the team is Mark Doboga, a member of the Senior Executive Staff, director of Plans and Integration and the Air Force Personnel Operations Agency as well as the deputy chief of staff for Manpower and Personnel for the AF. The six-person team's visit to Peterson will allow Airmen to voice their concerns to the highest levels of the Air Force - and possibly see results, said Capt. Chad Wright, chief of the manpower and personnel flight for the 21st Force Support Squadron. "When you deploy three to four people from a smaller unit, additional duties have a huge impact on a unit's workload," he said. "As a former section commander, I can see how commanders are feeling more pain. On the reverse side, I can see different career fields feeling hurt with manning cuts over the last few years. I know something different has to come of all this." The visit stems from the Air Force's heavy involvement in both Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom while still supporting homeland defense. With more warfighters reporting to duty overseas and other Airmen continuing the missions back home, commanders and supporting Airmen, according to a briefing on the visit, "are being tasked with responsibilities outside of their functional roles that inhibit their ability to lead and manage. [The Air Force] has an opportunity to implement positive change for commanders and Airmen by streamlining unit programs and administrative processes and enhancing commanders' ability to lead and execute their mission." The visit is so important, leadership from commanders down to first sergeants from both the 50th Space Wing at Schriever Air Force Base and the 460th Space Wing at Buckley Air Force Base are expected to be in attendance. While here, the members are expected to voice their concerns to the team on Airmen's workloads and how they would like them fixed. When asked about what results he would like to see from the assessment team, Captain Wright said he'd like to see a system that allows Airmen to "continue forth and complete the mission." "Reducing the additional workloads on commanders has got to be a priority," the captain said. "Perhaps placing responsibility across different levels is a possible answer. Can it be centralized? I don't know. But [these additional] duties have to be moved around to take the burden off of commanders [and their units]." The team's post-visit briefing is projected for the afternoon of Aug. 12. Stay with www.peterson.af.mil and the Space Observer for more coverage of the Airmen's Time Assessment Team.