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Show Hilltop M U.S. AIR IFOk-C -_;;I:='_ www.hilltoptimes.com Hill AFB, Utah 84056-5824 President declares Dec. 26 holiday The President has issued an Executive Order excusing executive branch non-Postal Service employees from duty on Dec. 26, with pay and without a charge to leave, except those who, in the judgment of the head of the agency, cannot be excused for reasons of national security, defense, or other essential public need. For pay and leave purposes, Dec. 26 will be treated as falling within the scope of statutes and Executive Orders governing holidays for federal employees. Employees working the 5/4/9 compressed work schedule to change their regular day off, or RDO, to align with the family/ energy shutdown day on Dec. 26. However, as a result of this Executive Order, employees working the 5/4/9 schedule will not adjust their work schedule for this pay period and observe their regularly scheduled RDO. This update was coordinated with the Union Local 1592. Most employees who are excused from duty on Dec. 26 will receive the basic pay they would have received if no Executive order had been issued. An employee who was previously scheduled to take annual leave on Dec. 26 will not be charged annual leave (or any other form of paid leave, compensatory time off, or credit hours). This policy does not apply to employees who receive annual premium pay for standby duty (5 U.S.C. 5545(c)(1)) or firefighters who are covered by special pay provisions (5 U.S.C. 5545b). An employee who is required to work non-overtime hours on Dec. 26 is entitled to holiday premium pay (5 U.S.C. 5546(b)). If an employee has scheduled "use or lose" annual leave on Dec. 26 and is unable to reschedule that leave for use before the end of the leave year (i.e., Jan. 10, 2015), the leave will be forfeited. When use or lose leave is forfeited under these conditions, the law (5 U.S.C. 6304(d)) does not permit restoration of the leave. For more information, contact your supervisor or call Labor Relations at 801-7754465. Surge operations being conducted The 388th and 419th Fighter Wing pilots will conduct night flying missions during a "surge" exercise through midnight Dec. 11. Local residents may hear F-16s flying during the night hours as pilots continue to sharpen their night-time combat flying skills. The active duty 388th FW and the Reserve 419th FW share a fleet of Block 40 F-16s and are required to train at night to maintain their readiness and all weather capabilities. A surge exercise also provides a valuable opportunity to evaluate aircraft maintenance resiliency and operational agility. The wings limit their night operations to what is required to remain proficient in night-flying training. When on a surge schedule, the wings will increase their normal day-to-day workload and conduct missions from 8 a.m. until shortly after midnight. Santa Claus at the Hill museum Santa Claus will visit the Hill Aerospace Museum Dec. 14 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Santa will give out candy and museum pins to children of all ages. The event is sponsored by the Aerospace Heritage Foundation of Utah and the museum. For more information, contact Robb Alexander at 801825-5936 or robbalexander@ aerospaceutah.org . See KNOW I Page 11 S Weekly Since 1948 hilltoptimes@standard.net Vol. 69 No. 1, December 11, 2014 —an= Promotion changes coming Changes to master sergeant evaluation board, SNCO to take effect spring 2015 Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON — The Air Force continues the phased implementation of its Enlisted Evaluation System and Weighted Airman Promotion System (WAPS) changes with the convening of a master sergeant evaluation board scheduled for May 2015. Evaluation and promotion system changes, scheduled for implementation over the next 16 months for active-duty Airmen, are focused on ensuring job performance is the most important factor when evaluating and identifying Airmen for promotion. The revamped master sergeant promotion process will be divided into two phases - Phase I and a Phase II, which contains an evaluation board similar to the current senior master sergeant and chief master sergeant evaluation boards. Under Phase I, promotion eligible technical sergeants, as of the Nov. 30 promotion eligibility cut-off date (PECD), will be scheduled to complete their WAPS tests (specialty knowledge test (SKT) and/or promotion fitness examination (PFE)) during the February — March 2015 testing window. Promotion eligible technical sergeants complete WAPS testing in the same testing window as promotion eligible staff sergeants; therefore, force support squadrons have been instructed to give testing priority to their technical sergeant population. This will assist the Air Force Personnel HOLIDAYS ON THE HILL Center in completing the Phase I process which includes ensuring SKT and/or PFE minimum scores have been met and establishing each Air Force specialty code's (AFSC) Phase I cut-line. Each Airman's test scores will be combined with their other weighted factor points (time in grade, time in service, decorations and enlisted performance reports) to determine an initial score. Scoring will follow the previously released WAPS point model for staff sergeants through master See PROMOTION I Page 10 I Thrift Savings Plan limits increase for new year By JANIS EL SHABAZZ Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs TODD CROMAR/U.S. Air Force ABOVE: Col. Ronald Jolly, 75th Air Base Wing commander, treats some children to a Christmas story at the Chirstmas Tree Lighting event on Dec. 3. Air Force military and civilian families all look forward to this annual holiday celebration held each December at Hill Air Force Base. BELOW: Zach Griffin and his children, Mattea and Jaidyn Griffin, look over the gift selections. By SARAH STOLL Hilltop Times correspondent M ore than 800 people from the Hill Air Force Base community enjoyed the Holidays on the Hill celebration. The Arts & Crafts building parking lot was filled with fun activities, treats, guests and more. Cheers of excitement rippled through the crowd as Santa and Mrs. Claus rode in on an Air Force fire truck to help Col. Ronald Jolly, 75th Air Base Wing commander, and children flip on the lights for the Team Hill holiday tree. Inside, holiday stories were read and See HOLIDAY I Page 5 JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas — The Internal Revenue Service has announced increased limits for 2015 Thrift Savings Plan contributions. "The maximum contribution amount for traditional and/or Roth TSP will be $18,000; this is an increase from the elective deferral limits of 2013 and 2014, which was $17,500," said Erica Cathro, an AFPC Human Resources Specialist. "Additionally, the maximum amount of 2015 catchup contributions is $6,000, which is an increase from the $5,500 elective deferral limit for calendar years 2013 and 2014." Catch-up contributions are additional tax-deferred contributions and are separate from regular TSP contributions. For those who are eligible, catch-up contributions provide a way for individuals to secure their retirement, especially for those who begin investing later in their careers. To be eligible for catch-up contributions, civilian and military employees must be 50 or older in the year in which the first deduction from pay occurs. They must also be in a pay status and be able to certify they will make, or have made, the maximum "regular" employee contributions of $18,000 to a TSP or other eligible account by the end of 2015. TSP contributions stop when an employee's contributions reach the annual maximum limit and will automatically resume the next tax year if the employee is still enrolled in TSP. "This is especially important to employees under the Federal Employees Retirement System because once employee contributions stop, agency matching contributions will also stop," Cathro said. See PLAN I Page 11 Look inside this week's Hilltop Times for • • • Open House 3-D Printing 2014 Annual Drive Library holds holiday event Machine helps build items See page 5 See page 7 See page 9 Cookie Drive , 4 |