(This was sent to all IMAs and PIRRs 30 March 2022. If you did not receive it in your personal email, please log in to the vMPF and make sure you have a good personal email in that system.)

RIO Buzz                                                                                                     Vol. 36

Hope your spring is off to great start.  Lots of things in work, but I want to start off the Buzz with some great new, so let’s get to it. 

GREAT NEWS ABOUT PAY AND TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT
I’m sure many of you are aware of the pay and travel reimbursement delays over the last few months.  I’m happy to let you know that we have cleared the vast majority of the older cases in travel and pay.  While we still have some older cases in work, the majority of the cases are being processed in days, and we are back within normal processing timelines.  Some of the more complex cases are still being worked, and we will ensure to resolve those ASAP.  If you check out the weekly updates on www.hqrio.afrc.af.mil on the PAY and TRAVEL sections, you’ll see we are currently processing most tickets within a week of submission, sometimes less.  Our IDT vouchers are still lagging, and they should be caught up By 15 Apr 22.  We will continue to dig into the underlying issues to prevent this from happening again.

NEW RIO LEARNING EXPERIENCES ARE NOW AVAILABLE
Help is here!

It can be challenging to successfully maintain your readiness requirements, plan and complete your AT, get orders, get paid, or file a travel voucher (to name a few critical tasks). Don’t get frustrated trying to complete a task; instead try our new training site and get the information you need FAST by accessing these modular courses! We currently offer self-paced learning modules on the following topics:

• IR 101 (includes Onboarding and Websites for IRs)
• Readiness
• Orders Processing for IRs
• Reserve Pay for IRs
• Travel Reimbursement for IRs
• Leave and Leave Carryover for IRs
• How to Make an Impact with Your Active Duty Unit
• A Valuable IR Resource: The URC
• How Detachments Service IMAs
• IR ADCON
• Participation, Points and R/R for IRs
• Mobilization and Volunteerism
• Supervising IRs (share with your active component supervisor!)
• Enlisted Career Progression: Promotion
• Enlisted Career Progression: Performance Evaluation
• Enlisted Career Progression: Force Development and Education
• Officer Career Progression: Force Development & Education, Performance Evaluation, and Promotion

Most courses are 30 minutes or less. You can take any course from end-to-end, or you can jump into a lesson and get only the information you need…whatever works best for you. 

The goal?  Make it easy to serve by giving you access to the information you need when you need it in a format that is easy to use.  You can access the new RIO Training Site HERE.

LODGING AFTER YOUR LAST IDT DAY?
For those IRs who travel for IDTs, lodging reimbursement is authorized during the dates of the IDTs, including the night before duty begins. If you require lodging after your last IDT day, you must submit an MFR to allow that night to be reimbursed.  More information about IDT lodging and a template for the MFR can be found HERE. 

DON’T FORGET TO PRE-CERTIFY ORDERS FOR PAY ON LONG ORDERS
If you are on orders for more than 30 days, you must pre-certify your orders on or after the first duty day and submit via myPers to start bi-weekly pay.  Unlike short tours (29 or fewer days), the AROWS-R TODC process is NOT used to certify orders on long tours, and you don’t need to wait for the orders to end to get paid.  For more information about long tours, go to HERE and scroll down.

WATCH FOR UNDER AGE FEES ON GOVERNMENT CAR RENTALS
It has been brought to our attention that some vendors are charging an Age Fee, these are not authorized fees. Any vendor location that participates in the U.S. Government Rental Car Program should not charge travelers a young driver fee, underage fee, or any other fee for authorized drivers as U.S. Government Rental Car Agreement #4 identifies them.

Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO) would request that any traveler who is incorrectly charged such an age fee submit a request for assistance and supporting documentation through the Rental Vehicle Assistance Tool. To submit a request for assistance, a traveler should click “Report an Accident” on the right side of THIS page. DTMO is also working to revise the language on this page to make it clearer that the Rental Vehicle Assistance Tool can also be used to correct vendor overcharges such as the kind you identified.

Once a request for assistance is received, DTMO will present any traveler receipt showing a Government business rate code or the $5/day Government Administrative Rate Supplement (also known as GARS) and an age fee to the participating vendor and request that the traveler be credited.

v/r,
Col Edward “Chad” Segura, HQ RIO Commander