Airmen should review personnel records, accomplish transactions before MilPDS upgrade

by Tech Sgt. Steve Grever
Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs

2/27/2013 - JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas -- Department of Defense and Air Force officials are encouraging Airmen to review their personal data in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System and accomplish personnel transactions before the service upgrades the Military Personnel Data System in March.

Personnel actions accomplished using MilPDS like reenlistments, enlistment extensions, promotions, unit transfers, discharges and retirements should be completed before the MilPDS upgrade in March to avoid processing delays with military pay and benefits eligibility issues. Airmen are encouraged to access the milConnect website at http://milconnect.dmdc.mil to review their personnel information prior to March. Airmen can use milConnect to check personnel information listed in DEERS as well as view their TRICARE coverage, Post 9/11 GI Bill education benefits, life insurance coverage, and other benefits.

"milConnect is an excellent tool available 24/7 for Airmen to review and update certain DEERS data at any time," said Mary Dixon, Defense Manpower Data Center director. "milConnect will be particularly valuable to assist Airmen in ensuring their records are up-to-date if changes occur during the shutdown period."

DMDC receives more than 1 million transactions each year from the Air Force and about 66,000 represent new enlistments in the Air Force, Air Force Reserve, or Air National Guard. Information sent to DMDC also determines TRICARE eligibility for almost 1 million sponsors and family members and plays a critical role in medical, dental, and pharmacy claims processing. Data sent to DMDC and DEERS supports the transfer of Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits for more than 87,000 active-duty, Guard and Reserve Airmen.

The upgrade project is scheduled to take about 23 days to complete while the Air Force Personnel Operations Agency here upgrades and transfers MilPDS to the Defense Information Systems Agency's Defense Enterprise Computing Center. During this time, MilPDS will not be available.

MilPDS is the records database for personnel data and actions that occur throughout every total force Airman's career. MilPDS is also used to initiate Airmen's pay actions, maintain Air Force accountability and strength data. MilPDS also supports a host of interactions with other active-duty, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard systems and processes that rely on this personnel data.

Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard members are not required to take any immediate actions unless they are notified by their military personnel section. MPSs will receive specific instructions for active-duty, Air National Guard and Reserve on unique personnel and pay processes related to accessions, unit training assemblies and participation, mobilizations and activations and casualties. Other personnel and pay processes will be held during the cutover period and processed once the upgrade is complete. Servicing MPSs will notify their affected members as soon as possible of any required personnel follow-up actions.

Air Force officials will continue to release additional information and guidance to the Air Force's manpower, personnel, services and pay communities and total force Airmen to continue to educate them on how the service will perform critical personnel and pay tasks during the MilPDS upgrade.

More information is available on the ARPC public website at http://www.arpc.afrc.af.mil and the myPers website at http://mypers.af.mil. For more information about DMDC, visit http://www.dmdc.osd.mil. For more information about the MilPDS upgrade, visit the myPers website at http://mypers.af.mil.