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Air Force announces MiLPDS upgrade

  • Published
  • By Pascual Flores
  • Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  The Air Force Personnel Operations Agency announced plans to upgrade and migrate the Military Personnel Data System to the Defense Information Systems Agency Defense Enterprise Computing Center Dec. 1.

"The upgrade project is scheduled to take about 23 days to complete, during which, MiLPDS will not be available," said Mark Chase, 87th Force Support Squadron system and management support chief.

MilPDS is the primary records database for personnel data and any actions occuring throughout an active-duty Airman's career. The database is also used to initiate Airmen pay actions, maintain accountability and strength data and support a host of interactions with personnel data related Air Force systems.

"The Air Force goal, and our goal, is to make sure everything from assignment information, separations, retirements and everything on your personnel side is updated into the system before Nov. 1," said Tech. Sgt. Candace Anthony, 87th FSS career development section chief.

Several essential personnel, pay, education and training systems, and transactional applications could be impacted during the downtime because of their reliance on MilPDS data.

The 87th FSS members encourage Airmen to print and save paper copies of personnel transactions until the system is fully operational.

The squadron's military personnel section advises that some actions and applications may need to be inputted earlier than usual. Some examples of these actions include retirement or separation in December.

"If you have a date of separation that falls between Dec. 1 and Jan. 31, you need to come to MPS by Nov. 1," said Anthony. "If you don't come to MPS and your date of separation comes and goes, you will not be paid and when the system comes back up you will not be in it. You need to make an appointment to see us."

Airmen with "base of preference" issues should complete applications by Nov. 1. Members with current assignments will need to update any changes prior to Nov. 15.

Basic housing allowance, basic subsistence allowance, hazardous duty pay and family separation pay are not affected by the MiLPDS migration.

"Air Force officials are urging active-duty Airmen who are eligible in December and early January to reenlist or extend their current enlistments to complete these personnel actions through MPS by Nov. 1 to avoid processing delays and military pay issues," said Chase.

Airmen promoted during December and January will not receive correct pay until after migration. Pay actions held during the migration will be retroactive to the actual effective date.

"We will be doing everything we can to make sure the information is updated in the system before Nov. 1," said Anthony.

MPS representatives will continue to host MilPDS upgrade briefings to help base leadership and Airmen understand the upgrades impact on Airmen and Air Force personnel programs. Officials will continue to release additional information and guidance to the Air Force's manpower, personnel, force support and total force Airmen to continue to educate them on how the service will perform critical personnel and pay tasks during the MilPDS upgrade.

Call MPS Career Development office at 754-5532 or 754-1541 for more information or to make an appointment to see a counselor on the MiLPDS migration.
 
(Editor's note: Members of the 87th Force Support Squadron contributed to this article.)