TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT, Pa. -One of the first things I thought after arriving at Tobyhanna in October 2008 is: Where are all the Soldiers'
I soon learned I was one of four uniformed personnel assigned to the depot. The other Soldiers working here belonged to tenant organizations, such as the Defense Logistics Agency, High Tech Regional Training Site-Maintenance, and Army Reserve and National Guard Units.
Capt. Amanda Clare and I came here through a special program that supports Reserve and National Guard Service members. Clare was selected for a position in the Security Division, serving as the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) manager, and I was selected for a position in the Safety Division, serving as a safety specialist. The EOC and Safety Division are part of the Industrial Risk Management Directorate.
The Personal Force Innovation (PFI) program allows Department of Defense Working Capital Fund activities, such as Tobyhanna, to fill critical manpower needs with highly skilled reservists. The PFI office recruits the highest quality volunteers and works closely with each activity to get the right person to fill critical needs.
"The depot gets the benefit of their civilian and military job experiences while the reservists are given another opportunity to serve their country in uniform and build points toward a potential military retirement," says Bob Edmunds, chief of the Resource Management Directorate's Manpower and Management Analysis Division. The division administers the PFI program for the depot.
All reservists on PFI active duty tours are volunteers who use civilian and military skills in jobs that may have otherwise been left vacant. PFI recruits from a pool of almost 1.5 million reservists from all Reserve Components who voluntarily apply for positions. Tobyhanna personnel decide on which applicants they want to select, but also have the option of declining all applicants or submitting by-name requests for certain individuals.
I was selected to work in the Safety Office because of my education in safety and environmental management, and professional civilian and military experience in safety. The opportunity also exists for Soldiers to be hired into vacant civilian positions through a non- competitive appointment called the Veteran Recruitment Authority (VRA). VRA is a program that provides recently separated active duty veterans with a conduit to civilian federal employment.
Clare and I recently completed our PFI tours and were hired for civilian positions through the VRA program. She says the PFI program provided her with the opportunity to work in a professional environment at the depot while serving on active duty, and notes that she owes her success to the program and the supervisors at Tobyhanna who support it.
To-date, Maj. Pete Mielo, EOC manager, is the only PFI program participant at the depot. He notes that the program is a great way for military members just coming off Active Duty to put their skills and knowledge to use at Defense Department installations.
"It's a win-win for both the Soldier and supervisor," he says, adding that "although it would be nice for this assignment to ultimately lead to a civilian position at the depot, for now my goal is to do the absolute best job I can supporting Tobyhanna in any way I can."
The depot has tours posted on the PFI Web site, including safety officer, military police, quality assurance specialist and engineering positions, which are available to Reserve Component Soldiers of most branches.
"The PFI program is an asset to the depot. It's one more tool in a leader's arsenal to match the right job to the right person and bring new and unique skills to the depot," notes Joseph Maciejewski, director of the Industrial Risk Management Directorate.
Tobyhanna employees with family or friends currently serving in a Reserve Component of the Armed Forces should encourage them to look into the PFI program at http://pfi.dod.mil. Click on "Who is PFI" and then "view current active duty tours" to see what's available at Tobyhanna and around the world.
Tobyhanna Army Depot is the Defense Department's largest center for the repair, overhaul and fabrication of a wide variety of electronics systems and components, from tactical field radios to the ground terminals for the defense satellite communications network. Tobyhanna's missions support all branches of the Armed Forces.
About 5,600 personnel are employed at Tobyhanna, which is located in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania.
Tobyhanna Army Depot is part of the U.S. Army CECOM Life Cycle Management Command. Headquartered at Fort Monmouth, N.J., the command's mission is to research, develop, acquire, field and sustain communications, command, control computer, intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors capabilities for the Armed Forces.
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