TMO assists Scott members with travel needs

Moving, expectedly or unexpectedly, involves many moving parts and can be very stressful, but the 375th Logistics Readiness Squadron’s Travel Management Office can help ease the process.

Military members often receive orders to installations both state-side and overseas, and the 375th LRS’s TMO will ship household goods anywhere, said Teddy Manning 375th LRS Logistics Readiness Distribution Flight and Passenger Travel Personal Property chief.

“We tell you what you’re entitled to, what you need to have done and process all of your paperwork,” said Manning.

Scott Air Force Base’s TMO serves all components of the military, including civilian counterparts. Its specific area of responsibility is between two states and covers about 800,000 square miles.

Tech Sgt. Blake Gamez, 375th LRS TMO Personal Property and Passenger Travel section chief, said, “This TMO here is very involved. We are all working hard to help everybody.”

The TMO handles household goods, cargo, and passenger travel. Passenger travel, meanwhile, handles flight scheduling and ticket purchasing. The cargo section processes all cargo that passes through the installation, and paperwork for personal household goods is processed in the main TMO located in Bldg. P-10.

Overall, Scott’s TMO serves nearly 4,500 customers a year and saved the government roughly $584,000 in 2017, said Manning. TMO also handled 289 shipments for general officers last year, which is very high for an Air Force base, he added.

When seeking assistance from TMO, the first thing a customer needs is their orders, said Gamez. Then, once the customer has orders in hand, TMO can begin the booking process.

Along with orders, they need to know where they are picking up from and where they are shipping too, additional pick-ups, leasing agents, receiving agents, an in-transit emergency contact, and a description of goods.

The TMO assists Scott Airmen with personally-procured moves in which Airmen take care of the shipping themselves. This practice saved the government approximately $210,000 in the last year.

TMO also has a quality assurance section that makes sure the process is done correctly and property isn’t damaged. Manning said Scott is one of only a few bases with a 100 percent inspection rate.

Manning said the biggest challenge the TMO faces is when they must meet an unrealistic time window to have property shipped, and he urges customers to contact TMO as soon as they get their orders to ensure their items can be handled. TMO has a 21 day minimum window to get customers goods shipped out.

This story was originally published August 20, 2018 at 1:35 PM.