Big idea spreads like a virus

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Trevor Saylor
  • 934th Airlift Wing
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL AIR RESERVE STATION, Minn. --  In 2016, the 934th Aeromedical Staging Squadron had one big idea, centered around a few questions: what if annual physicals could be done all at once, at the wing level, rather than spread throughout the year? Could this allow patient care to remain the top priority and also free up time to be used toward more training and mission-related activities?

As it turns out, all of the questions could be answered affirmatively, so the ASTS made it happen. The process was incredibly successful, saving roughly 3,000 combined hours of manpower.

Enough interest was expressed across Air Force Reserve Command that 1st Lt. Jonathan Polos coordinated visits from other units to observe the process. “After last year, we got so many calls that I made the decision to send it out across AFRC,” said Polos. “Our goal is to have everyone bring this back to their units.”

Walking around the hangar, the various stations are clearly marked, and ASTS personnel are denoted by wearing their reflective belts as sashes, in order to provide swift service. They are cheerful and informative, quick to grease the wheels of this relatively new process.

Lt. Col. Carmel Weed and Senior Master Sgt. Sean Kassebaum came from Maxwell AFB, Alabama, to spend a week observing the process at the 934th ASTS. Maxwell AFB is the home of the 908th Airlift Wing, where both men work full-time as Air Reserve Technicians.

When talking about the potential of this program to work at his unit, Weed gets very enthusiastic. “People joined to do a job,” Weed says. “They didn’t join to do physicals, and CBTs (computer-based training), fitness tests, and all the extra stuff we make them do. We want to be able to return time to their units and their jobs.” He is passionate about improving the process to make it even better, and draws diagrams on a notebook to illustrate his ideas on how to do so.

Kassebaum is equally enthusiastic. “You’ve proven this works,” he says. “Here you are in the second year, and it looks like folks have been doing this for years and years.”

The hangar is buzzing with a variety of activity. Captain Tara Mercado watches, with a clipboard in hand, and the stopwatch on her phone running. She is collecting data on cycle and touch times, trying to find out how long each Airman spends at a given station, and how long the entire process takes from end-to-end. “This is a good idea that’s been implemented,” Mercado says, “and other units rightfully want to see if they can copy this approach for their people. There are only two days per month, so freeing up more time is crucial.”

The entire building is full of positive energy. Everyone on both sides of the process, and those who came to observe as well, express their support for the big-idea-turned-reality.