Wing climbs toward operational readiness inspection

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Leo Brown
  • 442nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  Practice makes perfect.

However, Citizen Airmen of the 442nd Fighter Wing hope practice makes ''outstanding,'' especially in the eyes of inspectors during the operational readiness inspection next October.

The wing's recent unit-training assemblies have seen a flurry of activity, as Airmen prepare for the unit's first ORI in 11 years. The September UTA saw Airmen executing the second phase of an operational readiness exercise - operating from a deployed location - and rehearsing an ORE's first phase - assembling, processing and moving troops and equipment to a deployed location - during the October UTA.

Dubbed "Exercise Coronet Thunder Pig 1," phase I kicked off Oct. 3 and concluded two and a half days later, with some key messages about urgency, attitude and focus coming from Col. James Mackey, the vice wing commander and wing Command Chief Master Sgt. Al Sturges.

"The ORI is a year away," Colonel Mackey said. "That seems like a long way from now, but the reality is that we have 33 traditional reserve days before that happens. That's basically a month to prepare. So every time we come to work - especially for the traditional reservists - we need to focus on preparing for the ORI."

"We have a good plan and our people are extremely knowledgeable," he said. "My concern is if we don't prepare heavily now, we won't get an 'outstanding' (the highest rating) on the ORI. But our folks are good and they'll step up. We have two Phase IIs remaining, one Phase I remaining and two combined Phase Is and Phase IIs remaining. There's a lot of work to do."

The colonel and the chief stressed that Airmen can't rest on the fact that they have deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or other locations.

"If you look at previous failures in other organizations, it's because of lackadaisical attitudes and arguing with inspectors," Chief Sturges said. "Saying, 'we've been to Iraq and we've done things this way' is not the right answer to give inspectors."

Colonel Mackey and Chief Sturges stressed that the key to ensuring a successful inspection is having a positive mental attitude.

"I can't emphasize that enough," Colonel Mackey said. "When you're in your 12th hour of work and you're hot and tired and the inspector jumps on you, it's hard to take criticism, and you sometimes just have to say, 'Yes, sir.'

"If you disagree with an inspector, note it and tell your supervisor," he said. "But that's the biggest thing - the positive mental attitude."

Chief Sturges said that such military bearing must be mastered now versus down the road.

"We have to remember that while we're doing an ORE, we have to keep a positive mental attitude," he said. "We're practicing the basics and we're learning things from the ORE."

Some of those "basics" included working with 509th Bomb Wing Airmen to process a variety of equipment and almost 300 troops for travel on six aircraft.

"The biggest lesson learned is that you can't be too ready to deploy," said Lt. Col. Allan Slavin, 442nd Logistics Readiness Squadron's director of operations. "Getting the wing to war takes an incredible amount of coordination and every little snag causes the process to fall behind.

"Members must be diligent about keeping up with their eligibility requirements and, with respect to cargo, it's all about good cargo management and proper paperwork," he said. "You have to pay attention to detail."

"Our cargo processing has gone very well," Colonel Mackey said during the second day of the exercise. "All the pallets have been built properly and that paperwork is good. With personnel, we expect to find a lot of our folks not medically qualified for a variety of reasons, but we'll engage plans to resolve that."

"We've done real-world situations many times," Chief Sturges said. "But that's different than an ORI or an ORE. Preparing and exercising for an ORI is not the same as going to war. That's what we have to remember while we're doing this. If inspectors question us on something, we have to keep a positive mental attitude. We have to play the game the way (Air Force Instruction) 90-201 ("Inspector General Activities") tells us to play the game."

"I'd suggest every individual read 90-201," Colonel Mackey said. "I'd like the wing to be prepared (for the ORI) for the 10th Air Force visit in May," Colonel Mackey said. "We have 15 reserve days to do that, but everything should be perfect by May, so 10th Air Force can come in and validate that we're ready."