MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- The Marine Corps beneficial suggestion program allows Marines who have identified a problem to present a solution to fix it.
For one Marine from Marine Wing Support Squadron 171, his suggestion earned him not only a monetary award of $5,000, but also the appreciation of many in his field for making their jobs easier.
Gunnery Sgt. Alfred Jones, MWSS-171 warehouse chief, presented a computer program of his own design to the Marine Corps to counteract problems that have plagued the Marine Corps supply system for years.
The Broadened Arrangement of Resources Basic Accessory Relocation Application program, or BARBARA, allows warehouse Marines to break down the location of every piece of equipment on the shelves or issued to Marines.
"It's much easier to use than the program I was using before I came here," said Lance Cpl. Uriel Henry, MWSS-171 warehouse clerk. "Every Friday we do a location verification of all the gear and it's always accurate."
According to Jones, the program has allowed supply sections to reach accountability levels like never before.
"What they had before was called the Career Length Issue system, but the system wasn't working. Marines would transfer and they couldn't track the gear that was in the system," Jones said. "I recommended that they use my system instead, because it was much friendlier."
Although the program will make the lives of many Marines easier, the creation of the program was a rocky road for Jones.
Jones began writing programs in 1988. Over the following decade, Jones learned more and more about programming for his personal education. He then applied his fascination with programming in 1998, to create a tool that would make his job easier.
"Originally when I wrote it, I wanted it to replace the system currently in place because it couldn't do all the things we wanted it to do," Jones said. "I've always wanted my program to replace that program."
Although Jones created the program to solve problems he saw in his shop, it spread out of his control to benefit others. Although Jones asked that his program not be distributed, he began receiving e-mails from individuals from all over the Marine Corps raving about the effectiveness of his program and how he could make it better.
"I was getting e-mails from everybody," Jones said. "When I started getting the e-mails I just continued to make modifications. I took all the suggestions I was receiving and made the program better."
At that point, Jones had not yet submitted his program to the Marine Corps. However, his program began to draw attention to others throughout the Corps supply system.
"In 2001 I found that Marines were getting efficiency awards for my work, so for that reason I submitted my package," Jones said.
Jones' program was accepted in November and will now be distributed throughout the Marine Corps.