MILLINGTON, Tenn. – “Massive.”

The word not only describes Transaction Service Center (TSC) San Diego’s geographic area of responsibility. It also describes TSC San Diego’s task in the summer of 2022, when the Navy’s human resources enterprise transitioned away from legacy Personnel Support Detachments (PSD) and embarked upon its transformation.

TSC San Diego needed to consolidate a workforce and communicate with a customer base of Sailors, veterans, and families spanning almost 2 million square miles.

“How do I unify seven geographically dispersed PSDs with very different cultures into one TSC?” Cmdr. Tommy Wright asked himself when he took command in August 2022. “That was a monumental challenge to say the least.”

TSC San Diego’s mission is to process gains and losses – personnel transactions when a Sailor joins or leaves a unit – and military pay transactions for 112,077 Sailors at 2,320 units west of the Mississippi River, including Alaska and Hawaii. Massive, indeed, but a regional team of less than 300 people has paced the demand.

“The TSC San Diego team has postured the Navy’s largest geographic lay-down for the next phase of the MyNavy HR transformation,” said Rear Adm. Stu Satterwhite, Commander, MyNavy Career Center (MNCC). “We are operating well within DOD standards, focused on improving service delivery, simplifying business processes, and removing the burden from Sailors.”

Defense Department (DOD) processing standards are 30 days for pay, four days for gains, and one day for losses. Today, TSC San Diego averages four days for pay, two days for gains, and one day for losses, Wright said.

“San Diego had the toughest task ahead of them, and they crushed it – they achieved standards ahead of target and never looked back,” said Capt. Jason Grose, commanding officer of Navy Pay and Personnel Support Center, which oversees TSCs and RSCs. “They were even helping other TSCs work on separations and retirements, our biggest challenge in 2022. It was a herculean effort, and even as they chipped away at caseload and transaction times, they still had to get out there in front of the fleet and explain to Sailors how this all works.”

Amid the sea-changes in HR service delivery, TSC San Diego invested in fleet engagement.

“We have an aggressive travel plan to get in front of the fleet,” Wright said, “We use leadership networks and interfacing with installation commanders to share accurate information and reduce confusion.”
After town halls in Pearl Harbor, the Pacific Northwest, and locally at Naval Base San Diego and Naval Air Station North Island in 2022, TSC San Diego attended MyNavy HR Career Development Symposiums (CDS) in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii in 2023.

“At CDS PACNORWEST, we were the first TSC to provide real-time, on-site support,” Wright said. “Our representatives and their RSC teammates resolved Sailor pay issues in person, on the spot. One Sailor in Pearl Harbor received more than $38,000 in back pay,” he added.

TSC San Diego is one of seven HR Centers of Excellence (COE) in the MNCC enterprise. Each specializes in a major transaction type to streamline service delivery, but any TSC can work another’s cases if needed to maintain continuity no matter where in the world a Sailor serves.

Regional Support Centers (RSC) complement their parent TSCs, supporting operational unit leadership and training Command Pay and Personnel Administrators (CPPA) on the waterfront. RSC San Diego, RSC Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and RSC Everett, Wash., opened in December 2022 under TSC San Diego.

“TSC San Diego was instrumental in getting us where we are today as an enterprise,” Satterwhite said. “They serve Sailors stationed in the largest and most strategically significant theater on earth. TSC San Diego and its RSCs are at the tip of the spear ensuring accurate and timely pay for those Sailors, so they can focus on defending our nation.”

MNCC’s mission is to deliver modern hire-to-retire HR services through 24/7 customer service to Sailors, veterans, and their families. Through Sailor feedback, MNCC constantly strives to provide more resources and accurate resolutions. Contact MNCC at (833) 330-MNCC (6622) or AskMNCC@navy.mil. Find online self-service options on MyNavy Portal at my.navy.mil.