No matter what duty station a Sailor gets assigned to, they are accompanied with endless paperwork and documents under their name. From a Page 2 to performance evaluations to even pay issues, the paper trail seems endless and without any sense of organization.

Luckily, The personnel department aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) is stacked with qualified Sailors, ready to take on any and all issues that may come their way.

Personnel is split up to five different sections, with customer service being the hub of the department. Customer service is split up into two sections: pay and personnel. Pay handles pay benefits and issues, like flight deck pay and family separation allowance. Personnel handles re-enlistments and Page 2s.

"At customer service, we try to help Sailors with any questions that they may have," said Personnel Specialist 2nd Class Shavaughn Hunter. "Sailors will always have questions, from pay issues to reenlistments, and it's our job to eliminate most if not all uncertainties that Sailors may have."

The remaining three sections are separations/transfers, travel/receipts and the education service office. Separations and transfers deals with any end of service documents or transfers to other commands. Travel and receipts takes care of any travel situations and new checks-in, and the Education Service Office helps with any school questions, online or on campus, advancement exams and signing exam worksheets whether they take the test or not.

During George Washington's refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) the personnel department can be located in the Maritime Building in Newport News at 2600 Washington Ave. Suite 203. However, there is a duty personnel office in Room 220 of the Floating Accommodation Facility (FAF) for any necessities that need to be taken care of while Sailors are on duty. Personnel specialists (PS) use TOPS (transaction online processing system) to transfer all documents from the ship to the main building, allowing specialists on duty to start on Sailors' needs on the spot.

"TOPS acts like a liaison from the ship to the main office and vice versa," said Hunter. "TOPS also is like an accountability log on our side of things. It keeps track when the document was created, where it was sent, when it was read and its current location. It eliminates the issue where paperwork is left at the bottom of the stack and deadlines start placing Sailors in a bind."

Both the junior Sailors and khakis play an important role in the machine known as the personnel department, and that is to uphold the standard they have placed on themselves to do their best on a daily basis.

"Personnel is an intricate process with lots of moving parts," said Chief Personnel Specialist Bradley Mcanuff, personnel department leading chief petty officer. "Each and every one of those 12,000 transactions a month are done by our detailed-orientated Sailors. The aptitude test you take before you enter the military gauges a person to a job that fits a specific description. These Sailors want to be here and they want to help."

The personnel department works hard with excellence on their minds as they proceed to handle every transaction that comes their way with proper execution every time.

For more news from USS George Washington, visit www.navy.mil/local/cvn73/.

For more information, visit www.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/usnavy, or www.twitter.com/usnavy.

For more news from USS George Washington (CVN 73), visit www.navy.mil/.