LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va --
Telephone operator support for Air Combat Command ended on Dec.16, concluding over a decade of dedicated support for ACC installations.
Hosted by the ACC Communications Support Squadron, the Telephone Operator Consolidated Call Center – East served as ACC’s live call-routing service supporting customers across 12 installations around the clock.
As the heart of the program, ACC’s TOCCC-E operators directed more than 230,000 calls last year alone, including local, toll, and morale calls, as well as scheduling Meet-Me conferences.
“We are thankful to have had the opportunity to meet ACC’s base telephone operator mission needs through sourcing employment for these amazing professionals through the AbilityOne Program,” said Lt Col Justin Klawitter, commander of ACC CSS.
The AbilityOne Program is among the nation’s largest sources of employment for people who are blind or have significant disabilities.
The program facilitated morale call services to connect hundreds of deployed military members with families and friends each week. Through this service, TOCCC-E operators have assisted in raising resiliency of joint military members while serving overseas in support of named operations, humanitarian aid missions, and peace restoration efforts.
On Dec.16, the lifecycle of the program came to an end and evolved with the integration of cost-effective solutions and streamlined technology.
“General Charles Q. Brown Jr.’s guidance to ‘Accelerate Change or Lose’ and innovative technology evolutions are the driving factors behind ACC’s decision to sundown TOCCC services,” said Capt Katherine Steging, flight commander of the ACC CSS Operations Flight. “Our team worked with each ACC communications squadron to ensure ACC customers are still able to obtain the resources they need. It has been an honor to work with the TOCCC-E operators providing 24/7 support to our ACC bases and deployed service members.”
Support for deployed and family member calls will now be decentralized to the bases. For call routing, ACC customers will have a slightly different experience. Calls may be directed via an interactive voice recording rather than a live operator and will be automatically routed with the new call manager utility.
ACC bases may publish a base phone number directory for customers to identify organizations and services they wish to contact.
The Department of the Air Force Office of the Chief Information Officer has prescribed Microsoft Teams within the DAF 365 Enterprise Services as the collaboration tool for unclassified communications. Meet-Me conferencing services will no longer be provided.
“I would like to say thank you to the women and men who showed up every day and night to provide services to our military members,” said Gerald Freeman, Element Chief of ACC CSS Operations Support. “It was an enjoyable time spent getting to know everyone who always had a smile on their face and took pride in the work they accomplished.”