The Defense Finance and Accounting Service has donated more than 100 surplus desktop and laptop computers to Marines stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and to some deployed overseas.
The computers were being replaced as part of DFAS' Desktop Management Initiative. Last year, DFAS announced its plans to modernize and standardize desktop computers through a utility-style contract made against the General Services Administration's Millenia vehicle.
The donated computers will help marines of the 2nd Marine Division gain access to DFAS' online pay tool, myPay to view their payroll earnings and tax statements. The portal, which went live in 2000, also lets users update their federal and state tax-withholding information, make address changes, and update bank account and electronic funds transfer information.
"Delivering these machines helps Marines, allows the Defense Department to realize additional value from its initial investment in the computers, and encourages Marines to use the online tools that can support their pay needs," said Air Force Brig. Gen. Jan D. Eakle, deputy director of DFAS, in a news release.
The idea of donating the computers was spawned when David Earley, a former Marine and current DFAS employee, assisted with the upgrade of computers at DFAS headquarters in Arlington, Va.
"During a banquet earlier this year, I had the honor of sitting next to two Marines who had just returned from Iraq," Earley said in the release. "One of the Marines shared the value of how Marines were using computers in the far reaches of Iraq. He also made me aware they could always use more computers."