Town halls provide forum for questions on Joint Base Published April 30, 2009 By 2nd Lt. Christine Darius 87th Air Base Wing Public Affairs JOINT BASE McGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST -- Created to educate the military, civilian and union communities about the newly established Joint Base here, the first of a series of town halls began this week on the three regional installations. Covering a wide range of topics, the informal public meetings were held April 27, 28 and 30, and were a forum for people to voice their opinions and ask questions of senior leaders regarding the transfer of authority of the three area bases--McGuire, Fort Dix and Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst--to the Air Force. "One of my biggest challenges is ensuring that the employees transitioning over to the Air Force on 1 October have a seamless move, and everyone gets paid on time," said Col. Gina Grosso, 87th Air Base Wing commander, one of the speakers at the town halls. The 87th ABW provides installation support to more than 40 mission commanders at McGuire, Fort Dix, and Lakehurst. Other speakers included Ms. Bethy Stouck of the civilian personnel office who shared information about how the Air Force Personnel System uses skills coding to determine qualifications for internal promotion and reassignments. "All individuals interested in applying for promotions or reassignments immediately after 1 October will need to submit resumes for experience coding," Mrs. Stouck said. To help boost their hiring prospects, the Airman and Family Readiness Center on McGuire is extending its federal resume writing classes to Army and Navy personnel transitioning to the Air Force. The classes will be held 8 a.m. to noon on May 4, 11, and 20; June 17 and July 15. Another class will be offered at the center from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. June 3. Resume writing classes will also be held at Lakehurst from 9 a.m. to noon May 19. For more information, call McGuire at (609) 754-3154, or Lakehurst at (732) 323-1249.