Reservists issued PRaDa Published May 8, 2009 By Master Sgt. Collen McGee 433rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs LACKLAND AFB, Texas -- A designer system for tracking personnel files is now available to Reserve Airmen. The Personnel Records Display Application is a solution that lets Airmen retrieve their own records without making a trip to the MPF. PRDA, pronounced PRaDA, isn't going to outfit Airmen with designer threads, but it will help them weave career tracking tools with their own hands. "It's a great program, puts the information into the hands of people," said Capt. Elizabeth Dicus, commander of the 433rd Military Personnel Flight. "It's theirs. They should have it." Not only does the system allow Reservists to access their own personnel files, it makes it pretty easy. Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Granada calls the PRDA system, "Extremely user friendly." Both Captain Dicus and Sergeant Granada understand, even though the system is easy to navigate, there are people in the military who don't have easy access to a computer or are unfamiliar with using one. "We'll walk them through," said Captain Dicus. The 433rd Military Personnel Flight has computers in the hall with instructions on how to access the PRDA system. If anyone still has difficulty navigating through, then someone can walk them through it. Sergeant Granada also said there are training slides available and training classes for administrators. As with any new system, there are going to be hiccups. Airmen are encouraged to log into the system and review their files as soon as possible. "If you have difficulties, or corrections that need to be made, contact your unit administrators first and then come to us," said Captain Dicus. "We won't turn you away." The files currently are displayed as scanned documents and one of the issues Airmen might have is operating system compatibility. "The files that open are image files, .tiff files," said Sergeant Granada. "Some of them may not open directly if the computer is still on Windows XP but all the Vista machines will open it." If you are using an older operating system, there is a way to view the documents in your records. "I had to save them to my desktop and then right click and use the open with command to open them in windows picture viewer," said Captain Dicus. Every Airman needs to log into the PRDA system and look at their record as soon as possible. The original paper records, currently in Denver at the Air Reserve Personnel Center, will be destroyed 180 days from notification. That notification clock began the countdown on May 3. "It's important to review your records to make sure everything is there and to make sure nothing is mistakenly filed in the wrong record," said Captain Dicus. "It's people doing the work. People make honest mistakes." Mistakes will be easier to correct while the records are still at ARPC and can be personally reviewed. "If something is missing or needs to be updated in your files, go to the office that handles that function," said Sergeant Granada. "If you aren't sure who handles it, start at customer service and they will get you on the right track." How to Log in to PRDA Important information to verify in the PRDA System includes: OPR/EPRs Awards and Decs Enlistment Contracts/Extensions Serviceman's Group Life Insurance information Current Promotion Order Gi Bill paperwork Family Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (if applicable) DD Form 214