LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
In preparation for next year's Operational Readiness Inspection, 1st and 192d fighter wings and 633d Air Base Wing units successfully completed a Phase 1 Operational Readiness Exercise March 25-26.
The Phase 1 tested the wings' ability to generate aircraft, and process personnel and cargo for a deployment to a forward operating location, in support of a simulated non-steady state, robust aerospace expeditionary tasking.
Wing leadership made several changes to improve the processes and ensure open lines of communication were in place to prevent a repeat performance of the last ORE, which leadership halted prior to the scheduled completion time because of faulty procedures.
"Commanders and supervisors, at all levels, were encouraged to watch out for their Airmen, and proactively identify issues and communicate them up and down the chain of command," said Lt. Col. Westley Stark, 633 ABW/1 FW ORI project officer. "All Airmen focused on their personal contribution and responsibility to Team Langley's success and attention to detail in all areas."
Exercise-impacted units made process improvements as early as last month to reduce Wing Exercise Evaluation Team write-ups during the exercise.
To ensure only medically-cleared personnel processed through the simulated deployment line, the 633d Medical Group stood up an improved Medical Clearance Cell after Wing leadership dropped the Prepare-to-Deploy-Order in late February. The mission of the MDCC was to scrub individual medical records and coordinate with unit deployment managers to schedule appointments for all Airmen tasked as exercise deployers.
"Airmen who were not medically ready to deploy could then be quickly replaced by another prior to the exercise, rather than trying to make the replacement on the deployment line," Stark explained.
Once medically cleared to deploy, Airmen needed compliant personal readiness folders. To assist unit UDMs, the 633d Force Support Squadron provided training and tools to streamline folder requirements as well as opportunities to pre-screen folders to weed out discrepancies. This reduced the wait time on the deployment processing line and ensured deployers attended scheduled pre-flight briefings.
"I saw several changes that increased productivity," said Airman 1st Class Derrick James, 633d LRS journeyman and exercise deployer. "The passenger processing station moved from the mobility contents issuing station to the passenger in-checking station, which significantly reduced wait times after a deployer finished processing."
Weeks prior to the exercise, the 633d Logistics Readiness Squadron provided extensive training to Wing UDMs, Unit Increment Monitors and Hazardous Materials Technical Specialists "to ensure increments of cargo were delivered to the cargo deployment function on-time and defect-free," Stark said. In addition, the squadron altered the flow of cargo and passenger deployment functions from serial to parallel, when possible, to expedite the loading process.
While Wing leadership still has hiccups to work out of the ORE process, many say the March Phase 1 is a much improvement since the last.