Wing on leading edge with home station ORE

  • Published
  • By Paul Zadach & Tech. Sgt. Kimberly Hickey
  • 934th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
MINNEAPOLIS-ST PAUL AIR RESERVE STATION --   The 934th Airlift Wing completed its first home station Operational Readiness Exercise last week under new guidance ushering in a new era in Air Force inspections.
 
Feb. 13, the Secretary of the Air Force Inspector General's office released a new Air Force Guidance Memorandum to AFI 90-201, The Air Force Inspection System, that changes the way the Air Force conducts and oversees its inspection processes.

The new guidances does away with the traditional fly-away Operational Readiness Inspections every five years. Instead, wings will continuously conduct self inspections through the Management Internal Controls Toolset and perform and Operational Readiness Exercise self evaluation each year.
 
Real-world deployment activities will also be documented and will count towards meeting mission readiness standards. The wing's progress will be monitored by higher headquarters during a four year inspection period in which a HHQ inspection team will visit the wing at least once to verify the wing's inspection process.

During the exercise last week, 934th members were tested on their ability to deploy to a forward location and perform their jobs in a simulated wartime environment.
The wing created a simulated forward deployed base using tents and existing facilities at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Air Reserve Station. Once Airmen arrived at "Base X," they stood up the base by filling sand bags and assigning team roles. During the next few days, exercise evaluation team members injected battle-related scenarios for their career fields while deployed members worked to protect themselves and the base during simulated ground and air attacks.

"Casualties" were transported and treated on the ground and on real-world flying missions aboard the unit's C-130 aircraft testing the wing's Aeromedical Evacuation and Aeromedical Staging Squdrons.

Some members also learned additional duties such a Post Attack Reconnaissance as part of their readiness training. Members of the PAR team are among the first to be released after an attack and work a vital support skill because they let the players know when it's safe to venture outside. The aftermath of a chemical, biological, or missile attack, can be confusing, so the PAR teams become the eyes and ears for commanders and help to facilitate critical decision making.

Many of the people who were here for the 934th's last Operational Readiness Inspection in 2008 have since moved on which created a learning environment for Airmen new to the experience. But even for some seasoned members who had been through previous inspections, there are new elements to the process.

"When our ORI was cancelled, the wing had to quickly shift gears to make this exercise happen. We no longer had the two other wings we had been working with on the ORI. The CVZ office did a great job in planning the exercise and steering the 934th toward the new inspection model," said Col. Darrell G. Young, 934th Airlift Wing commander.

Lt. Col. Michael Auel, 934th AW readiness officer, theorized the changes introduced were driven by the need to cut costs.

"It's definitely budget-driven," he said. "If we do a Readiness Assistance Visit, an Operational Readiness Exercise and an Operational Readiness Inspection, the wing will spend close to three million dollars. We spend almost a million dollars per event, including man days. That's a lot of money ramping-up."

"We now have to do an ORE every year," said Master Sgt. Danielle Romero, 934th AW Readiness Office. "It's an annual requirement."

The nature of operational readiness is evolving with a de-emphasis on Ability to Survive and Operation activities involving 'MOPP-ing up' or practice using chemical warfare gear. However, it's still a skill the wing has to practice, said Auel.

The Inspector General's guidelines still require wings to practice ATSO skills, but not with as much emphasis as past years, she said.

"That's why we did an ATSO Rodeo," said Romero. "The rest of the exercise included scenarios like conventional non-chemical missile attacks, Improvised Explosive Devices, exploding cars, and other explosives, more like downrange."

There were also simulated mortar attacks, but without chemical gear, she said. A mass casualty scenario was part of the exercise.

What changes were introduced that will keep the 934th AW in a mandatory state of operational readiness and will also cut costs? Virtual inspections are the wave of the future.

"There is a much heavier emphasis on the Management Internal Controls Toolset now," said Auel. "It's a virtual set of checklists."

The checklists within MICT give Air Force Reserve Command inspectors specific snapshots of the wing's program management to determine if wing personnel are continually addressing their identified discrepancies within reasonable suspense dates, he said.

"Under the old system, there were discrepancies out there that were 500 to 600 days old or more, " said Auel. "That can't fly any longer because the inspectors are going to be watching them. There is more oversight into things."

And, there are consequences for units that do not report progress on their discrepancies or 'green up' on their checklists, meaning they report no discrepancies nor report how compliance was achieved.

"They can perform surprise inspections," said Romero. "They actually encourage those. But, it's going to be about what is setting off those bells."

"During the exercise I heard a lot of positive comments, and some negative ones as well, but I was very impressed with the wing's performance. Because we acted quickly to adapt to the changes, we are now on the leading edge of the new inspection process, said Colonel Young. "We are currently in the first phase of a four-year UEI inspection. The home station ORE is a part of that process, but now that we have a solid shell for planning, it will become easier each year. No more long ramp-ups and then putting it out of our minds. We will be in a constant state of readiness. We are tentatively planning our next home station ORE for May, 2014."