RAFINO Report
ISSUE 21 - Fall 1998  - Return to Index

Message From The Honorary
Colonel of The Finance Corps Regiment
MG (Ret.) Paul P. Burns

Dear Retired Finance Corps Members:

This message reports the results of the 14th Finance Board which met at Ft. Jackson from 13-15 May 1998, as documented in a Memorandum for the Record, subject: 14th Finance Board dated 18 May 1998, signed by Colonel Edgar E. Stanton III, President of the Board.

The board consisted of 29 of the most senior leaders from the Total Army Finance Community.  Its primary purpose was to determine the course of action that provides the best financial management support to the Total Army.  The board was divided into three working groups to independently evaluate the various alternative organizational options that were briefed to the board and any other structures they wished to consider.  After group deliberations, the board reassembled and each group briefed their option.  All groups were guided by the following criteria:

a. Meet ground component commander's needs;
b. Have peacetime functions;
c. Provide career opportunities for officers, NCOs, and enlisted soldiers; and must support Officer Personnel Management System (OPMS) XXI, and the NCO Personnel Management System; d. Must meet the needs of Army XXI;
e. Must maintain current strength or, preferably, reduce strength; 
f. Must work in the Reserve Component structure.

The Ground Component Commander's wartime needs were defined as: 

a. Command support:
(1) Battlefield Procurement and Fund Control;
(2) Cost capturing;
(3) Finance and Accounting policy,
(a) Entitlements,
(b) Disbursing,
(c) Accounting,
(d) Budgeting,
(e) Procurement.

b. Soldier Support (until about 2004 when elements of the Soldier Support Study are implemented):

(1) Cash availability.
(2) Smart Card.
(3) Entitlement Service.
(a) Military Pay
(b) TDY. 
(c) Soladium payments.

The Finance Board decided the following:  "To best support Army XXI, the financial management community should combine the missions associated with Branch Code 44 (Finance) and Functional Area 45 (Comptroller).  This combination allows better support while creating a synergistic organization structure able to meet the increasing financial demands of Army XXI.  The following paragraphs describe this concept:

a. The Finance Corps will support the battlefield with Finance companies (FC), which support a COSCOM or DISCOM by providing essential contracting and commercial vendor support in conjunction with the logistics community.  The company's modular structure ensures the unit can disperse throughout the battlefield to satisfy procurement support requirements while providing a smaller tactical footprint.

b. A Financial Management Battalion (FMB) provides command and control over the FCs.  Additionally, the division resource manager will be part of the FMB.

c. The battalions will belong to a Financial Management Command (FMC), a brigade-level organization assigned to the COSCOM or Theater Support Command.  The FMC is structured for split based operations and provides one focal point for financial management operations.  The FMC supports tactical operations with banking and currency, commercial vendor services, cost capturing, civilian internee payment accountability, soladium and condolence payments, limited disbursing, stored value card maintenance, and resource management support.

d. The Finance Board tasked the Commandant of the US Army Finance School to draft a concept for these units and distribute to the Board members for further dissemination to all Finance Corps soldiers.

The Board also discussed whether or not Finance Battalions need DSSN capability for training purposes to maintain readiness.  The Board concluded, while it was possible to do this, current Treasury policy constraints requiring electronic payments would limit volume to the point that no training benefit would accrue.  The Board determined that the best way to meet the training need would be a computer-based simulation.  DFAS (Colonel Shine) offered to take the lead in developing the simulation model.

Colonel Ed Stanton and his able staff did a masterful job of organizing controlling and supporting the conduct of this Board to achieve this outstanding result which I believe has the support of the top financial management of the Army.  Combining the Finance and comptroller career fields will assure career progression to top financial management positions for financial management soldiers, NCOs, and officers. 

Following are excerpts from a letter to participants of the RAFINO/RAFINCO 1998 Reunion in Columbia, South Carolina:  “Today, as we strive to support a more lethal, widely dispersed, and technology driven force, Finance soldiers and civilians are better prepared to face the challenges of the future because of your hard work, dedication and legacy of professionalism…  Again, congratulations on a job well done!  Our success could not be possible without your outstanding contributions and the able support of your families.  We salute each of you and extend our very best wishes for a most enjoyable reunion and safe return home”.   

Thanks, Ed for those uplifting remarks!!