Vice commander focusing on transformation, challenges Published Feb. 7, 2006 By Tech. Sgt. Rob Mims Air Reserve Personnel Center Public Affairs DENVER -- One of the first orders of business for Air Force Reserve Command’s new vice commander was a visit to see where reservists’ personnel matters are taken care of – the Air Reserve Personnel Center. Maj. Gen. Allan “Rusty” Poulin was no stranger to ARPC before his visit here Jan. 30. After spending 10 years on active duty, he joined the Air Force Reserve unit program for 16 years and then moved on to the individual mobilization augmentee program for 10 years. “ARPC and I go back a long way,” said General Poulin, who became the AFRC vice commander in January. “They have always provided a very, very high level of personnel support to our reservists. There is just a lot of work that the folks at ARPC have done to support our reservists. I would like to thank them for the great job they are doing.” The general was briefed on the constant improvements happening at ARPC when it comes to customer service and personnel service delivery. “I see a lot of changes going on and I see a lot of automation,” he said “It will allow us to have better processes and enable people to contact the personnel center here for records, products and processes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even while deployed overseas.” Above all, the general said, the focus should be on how processes are accomplished and how AFRC and ARPC can give the highest level of support to the war fighter. Part of that support includes the transformation into Personnel Service Delivery. “ARPC is all about customer service,” said General Poulin. “PSD is just one more tool we are going to use to advance our customer service and provide the highest level of service possible to our reservists." Currently, Airmen can access the virtual Personnel Center Guard and Reserve Web portal from anywhere with an Internet connection. He said the innovative processes the people at ARPC are developing enable reservists to be more effective because they can better leverage their time and ability to take care of things they need to do to support themselves, their families and their employers. “I saw many faces I had seen years ago,” said General Poulin. “Therefore, I know we have a lot of experience, expertise, continuity and a great mix of active duty, Active Guard Reserve members and civilians. I think when you put all that together you have the perfect mix.” Having the perfect mix during wartime is important and the general has experience in that area. He spent a year in Vietnam and Thailand during the Vietnam War. His experience there allows him to understand the challenges faced by Citizen Airmen participating in the Global War on Terror. “We have had a fairly impressive mobilization,” said General Poulin. “Therefore, the fact that we have had the level of commitment experienced, certainly since 9/11, is a great story. When you mobilize to the extent that we have, we did well,” he said. “But, we can do better. Doing better is not extremely difficult when you have the support of good people.” “We have asked a lot of people to be away from their homes and their family,” said the general. “They have made a great commitment and we thank them for that. On top of that, we have had a tremendous amount of people volunteer for additional duty. Some of those who were mobilized would come back and volunteer again. Those who were not in a mobilization category volunteered their services. With that comes a high level of experience and expertise again from our Reserve family. We have magnificent people out there doing great service for the Air Force.” Great people are vital to the future of the Reserve Force, and there will be some great opportunities for them, the general said. “The opportunities for us to augment and support the active Air Force are across the entire spectrum of our command,” he said. “We have been in the associate business for many years in Air Mobility Command. But, we are seeing more and more opportunities in the combat air forces, associate models in the F-15 programs and the Aggressor programs at the Air Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., with the unmanned aerial vehicles and the F-22s.” He said overall, there are going to be many opportunities as the Air Force continues their transformation initiatives. As the Air Force transforms as a Total Force, all reservists will play a part, General Poulin said. “We want to ensure all of our Airmen from the lowest to the highest ranks are trained and ready to the highest level when called upon to support whoever needs our service and ensure the right force development metrics are out there,” he said. “Our vision for the Total Force is to improve our ability to be integrated and associated across the full spectrum of Air Force operations. We are not a force in reserve, we are a reserve force positioned and postured to support the active duty. I think the more ways we find to associate and integrate with the active duty the better resource we will be.” With that commitment to a Total Force transformation, comes the need for a constant replenishment of reservists. “We have done well in recruiting over the past years, and I think AFRC presents a great opportunity for people to participate,” said General Poulin. “We have a good model, and I think people view AFRC in a favorable light.” The general continued, “We have met our recruiting goals. Thanks in many, many ways to our recruiting service. Clearly we have the best recruiters in DOD … at least I feel that way. They have done a remarkable job in recruiting, and we are doing well in retention. We will keep focused in those areas.” Moreover, the command’s new vice commander’s focus is a plate full of mobilization, transformation, education, association and many others; however, at the end of the day, he can say it’s all about the challenge.