MEO, EEO offices to merge as one

  • Published
  • By Nick DeCicco
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  As part of an Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century initiative, the Military Equal Opportunity and Equal Employment Opportunity offices will merge starting Jan.1, 2008. 

Military members are now undergoing training to work the EEO side of operations, the civilian side of things, in order to make the transition more seamless. 

On the other side of the coin, civilians are taking seminars to learn how processing complaints from military members will differ from what they have done in the past. 

The switch is made a lot easier at Travis, according to Master Sgt. John Schumann, 60th Air Mobility Wing, since the two offices are already co-located on the second floor of the F-Wing in Bldg. 381. Some other bases have to pack up materials and move the two offices into a combined space. 

Since location will not change, the biggest alteration the average EO visitor will notice is the clothing of those handling his or her issues. 

Previously, lines were clearly drawn - Air Force members handled military cases and civilians dealt with non-military issues. Blurring these lines is an essential part of the merger, as all cases will be completed by one staff under one roof. 

"The name changes, but the services don't," Sergeant Schumann said. "It will be seamless. If they were coming to visit us to discuss a concern, they would come to this office." 

The military cases brought to EO must fall under the five protected categories: race, religion, national origin, color or sex discrimination, the lattermost of which also encompasses sexual harassment. Civilian cases include the previous five categories as well as age and physical and mental disability. 

Each case is handled on an individual basis. 

"Each person that has concerns is basing that off their perception, how they're seeing things in their work center," said Sergeant Schumann. "And based on that, there's a phrase we use when we're teaching. It's, 'my perception is my reality,' because I see it, so it's real to me." 

Teaching is a big part of the job, Sergeant Schumann said, as an effort to confront issues before they may happen. 

When issues do occur, the goal is to try and solve them on as informal a level as possible, he said. 

"There are three sides to every story: There's what you see, there's what I see and there's what really happened," the sergeant said. "Our job is to try and do the best we can to find out what really happened." 

The challenges of the transition are also being felt on the Equal Employment Opportunity side of the house, which LaVerne Aldrich manages. 

"Civilians have to learn the processing for the military side," Ms. Aldrich said. "They actually had to go to a two-week training to be trained on the military processing of their complaints." 

She said she feels the merger will be good for both offices and will have additional advantages to civilians. 

"We have civilians now going to the deployed areas and no one to work their EEO issues," she said. "With the military being trained, they can work it there in the deployed area or civilians can work the military and vice versa." 

Regardless of the dress of the individual working the complaint, Capt. Patrice Williams, 60th AMW, is optimistic the change is for the better. 

"There will be some challenges in the beginning, but that's with any organization until people get used to a radical change," she said. 

For her, the bottom line is always making sure the mission runs as smoothly as possible. 

"Just think about it. If somebody's going to work every day and they feel like they're being discriminated against, how well are they going to perform their job?" she asked. "That's why we exist." 

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