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Civilian employees affected by the living quarters allowance audit voiced more concerns regarding secondary effects of losing LQA at a town hall Sept. 12 on Ramstein.
Experts from U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa answered questions and addressed lingering concerns while leadership reinforced its commitment to each of the 70 employees.
“The personal stories you all have resonate,” said Lt. Gen. Tom Jones, USAFE-AFAFRICA vice commander. “They break my heart, and when I can convey that to leadership, I do it with the same emotion you share with me. As long as you’re comfortable allowing me that access, I will use your stories in that regard.”
One of the issues the employees asked about is how to find their next job back in the U.S., since some have voiced their inability to support themselves overseas without LQA.
One option is signing up for the accelerated priority placement program, which would increase opportunities for stateside employment, said Monique Botting, the USAFE-AFAFRICA Personnel Division chief.
“The accelerated priority placement program may help get you to the States quickly if you have no return rights and can’t sustain yourselves overseas without LQA,” she said. “To benefit from the accelerated PPP, employees must enroll no later than Nov. 15. After this date, normal PPP provisions will apply.”
Another option to obtain stateside employment may be to take advantage of assistance from the career field management teams (CFT).
“CFTs know where the jobs are and can help attain the best job for you stateside in addition to taking your regional preference into consideration,” said Jeff Loomis, USAFE-AFAFRICA Civilian Programs branch chief. “So far, 25 resumes have been submitted to CFTs. We highly encourage you to make yourselves available to this program if stateside employment is something you seek.”
In addition to using these services, some employees looked for stateside jobs on their own.
Wayne Elliott, USAFE-AFAFRICA Directorate of Communications chief technology officer, applied for 157 stateside positions when told his LQA was being cut.
“The only way to overcome a situation like this is to attack it with brute force,” he said. “And this fight isn’t over.”
Once a stateside job opportunity opens up, the next hurdle becomes whether the loss of LQA affects travel entitlements back to the U.S., in the forms of transportation agreements, renewal agreement travel, and student education transportation.
Renewal agreement travel, which authorizes employees a trip back to the U.S. if they extend their overseas tour, is not tied to LQA, according to the civilian personnel office.
So, in these cases, it will not be incurred as a debt.
That came as a relief to Tim Davis, 603rd Air Operations Center Air Mobility Division liaison officer, who has used renewal agreement travel multiple times.
“I’ve used RAT twice thinking I was authorized for it, and when I was first informed about my LQA situation, I thought I might have to pay it back,” he said. “The uncertainty of compounding debt stemming from LQA has been extremely stressful.”
Additionally, two employees may be ineligible to use transportation agreements, and 13 employees may incur an additional debt with student education transportation, especially if employees used it for multiple children.
Despite these uncertainties, 35 employees decided to apply for the debt waiver, which, if approved by the Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals, would potentially clear the employee of their LQA debt.
The waiver packages are submitted on a case-by-case basis through Defense Finance and Accounting Services, with a cover letter signed by acting Secretary of the Air Force Eric Fanning expressing support for these waivers to DOHA, according to Jones.
While some employees are still wary about trusting the waiver process, 16 employees have already had their waivers approved in full.
“At first, I was distrustful,” said Ted Deguzman USAFE-AFAFRICA Training and Operations program analyst. “But after my one-on-one with DFAS, I was assured of their willingness to take our cases seriously. Within three weeks of submitting my package, I received a personal phone call that 100 percent of my LQA debt was waived.”
Patrick Patton, USAFE-AFAFRICA Defense Travel System program manager, also submitted a waiver package and is waiting to hear from DFAS.
“The toughest part of this process involves trusting the federal government,” he said. “Even if my debt is fully waived, how do I know that 10 years down the road, this debt won’t creep into my records and destroy my credit?”
Despite these frustrations, Patton added that the best part about the LQA situation has been the dedicated support from DFAS and USAFE-AFAFRICA.
“We can tell this is a real issue for Lt. Gen. Jones,” he said.
For others who have had their debt fully waived, the next step is planning for the future.
“I want to thank everyone at this base for their support,” said George Wiese, 86th Airlift Wing Comptroller Squadron financial management analyst. “Leadership here is doing everything they can to help us through this. That generates the ability to move forward.”
