Skywrighter briefs: Air Force Personnel Center changes board cycles

Skywrighter briefs

Air Force Personnel Center changes board cycles

The Headquarters Air Force Personnel Center has changed two Senior Non-Commissioned Officer (SNCO) Boards and postponed two Weighted Airman Promotion System (WAPS) Testing Cycles.

CHANGED DUE TO COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS: SNCO Supplemental Board has been changed to April 20-24, 2020.

POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS: Master Sergeant (20E7) Promotion Board has been tentatively scheduled for June 1-26, 2020 (NOTE: File Freeze has been extended until May 20, 2020). Any Technical Sergeant (20E6) Testing Cycle, Staff Sergeant (20E5) Testing Cycle through May 11, 2020, is postponed with new testing dates to be released at a later time.

For the April SNCO Supplement Board, AFPC has prioritized cases meeting this board to focus on those facing HYT considerations first, given the uncertainties of executing the full slate of those pending consideration. To transcend physical barriers, AFPC will use this as a beta-test for executing a virtual board (board members scoring from their home station).

Board members will not travel to AFPC; they will remain at their respective home stations. All board operations will be conducted online; board members will be required to log in to the NIPR in a private office, conduct all board actions undisturbed, and will require audio and video transmit/receive capability, with details furnished upon AFPC/PB notification to board members.

Veterans’ GI Bill benefits continue during crisis

Schools across the country are now or already have moved from in-person courses to online courses in the interest of public health due to COVID-19 concerns. For GI Bill students, this change in training modality raises questions and concerns about the impact to GI Bill benefits and housing allowances.

Veterans’ GI Bill benefits will continue during the COVID-19 pandemic. President Donald Trump signed S.3503 into law on March 21, 2020, which will enable the Department of Veterans Affairs to continue providing the same level of education benefits to students having to take courses online due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The law gives VA temporary authority to continue GI Bill payments uninterrupted in the event of national emergencies, allowing for continued payment of benefits even if the program has changed from resident training to online training.

Additional information can be found at https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=5403.

If you have questions about your specific circumstances or those of family members, contact the VA Education Call Center at 1-888-442-4551 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday-Friday. If you have any questions, email wpafbeducation@us.af.mil or call 937-904-4801 to speak to an education services advisor.

Local centers approved for child care

With the Child Development Centers now only taking care of children of mission-essential personnel, spots have become limited and some personnel who fall into this category may not have spots available to them.

To bridge this gap, local child care centers have been approved for pandemic child care. To find the list of centers and their contact numbers, visit https://www.wpafb.af.mil/Portals/60/documents/corona/Pandemic-Provider-Approved-List.pdf .

Website offers health, wellness assistance

The Civilian Health Promotion Services is committed to the health and wellness of participants and wants people to know what resources are available on USAFwellness.com. On that site you can find things from Daily Pursuits to set your own goals and with daily suggestions to improve all areas of health and wellness. There’s also track activity and steps to stick with your fitness goal or even create new ones and can even link fitness watches to keep track.

If you need help in the food area, they have a recipe section for new ideas to helps stay away from the next frozen dinner. Most importantly you can stay connect to your support team by creating your own group in the Alliances section. If you want to improve your wellness, CHPS can help.

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