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June ORI cancelled

  • Published
  • By Karen Petitt
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  The 375th Air Mobility Wing received notification last week that it won't have to undergo an Operational Readiness Inspection, originally planned for this June. Instead it received credit for a year's worth of preparation that included one fly-away exercise and several home-station training events.

This comes as the Air Force Inspector General undergoes a complete revamp of the way it performs inspections to align itself with the way the service actually goes to war instead of the Cold War model. According to a memo from Brig. Gen. Steven Arquette, the AF/IG, the wing will be rescheduled under a new type of inspection called the Unit Effectiveness Inspection, or UEI.

Unlike the ORI, the new UEI format will "emphasize the role of the wing commander in maintaining readiness and compliance." The IG will still have a role to validate and verify readiness and compliance, but will be confirmed by the wing commander. Details of how the UEI will be implemented and internal restructuring within the IG have yet to be announced.

"We couldn't be more pleased to hear this news," said 375th AMW vice commander Col. John Price. He has overseen the wing's training agenda and heads the Council of Deputies, which was the focal point for inspection preparation. "Our wing was one of the last to be inspected under the 'old model,' and we knew changes were coming soon, so we asked for the credit given the work we have already put forward in getting ready for the June ORI. This way we'll be aligned and ready to go for when the new inspection process begins."

He explained that there were three things we focused on in our formal request to the IG to receive credit: past inspection reports for the 375th AMW which all rated 'Excellent,' training already conducted, and the wing's ability to provide combat-ready Airmen and deploy real-world.

"These changes in the inspection process have been a long time coming, so we're looking forward to moving away from a one-time evaluation ramp up, to a more consistent state of readiness," said Price. "We used to say 'crawl, walk, run' our way to an ORI, but in reality we should already be at that 'steady walk' pace ... and make sure we're all trained up, not just a certain percentage of people who've been identified to be the wing's representation out in the field."

To do that will require a culture change said Lt. Col. Brian Severns, the wing's Plans and Programs chief, who's responsible for a team of inspectors who work with unit Exercise Evaluators to assess the wing's readiness status.

"We need everyone to be ready all the time, and that's going to take a huge effort on our part to make that happen. We know there'll be some restructuring in our office, but there'll also be discussions on how this training will look in the months ahead. I think we've got a great foundation that we started with our wing training days, so we will look to build on that for starters."

With no ORI in June, the planned Operational Readiness Exercise in April has been reformatted. What was once going to be a flyaway will now be a week-long home station training event. From April 15-17 the wing will work on its mobility machine--the recall and deployment of personnel and cargo. On the 18th the wing will conduct an ATSO--the Ability to Survive and Operate--Rodeo, to focus on Airmen who have not previously had the training or who need refresher training. Then on Friday, the 19th, the wing will conduct its semi-annual Wingman Day where military and civilian employees focus on team building skills.

There were other inspections scheduled during the June ORI that will still proceed in its full or some type of abbreviated form:

Aircrew Standardization Evaluation Visit (ASEV)

Airfield Operations Compliance Inspection (AOCI)

Standardization Evaluation Program for Weather Operations (SEPWO)

Logistics Compliance Assessment Program (LCAP)

Price added that the new way forward for unit inspections will allow the wings to have a more consistent, sustainable force ready for deployment.

"It's really a win-win for us," he said. "We don't need to perform what many would agree is an outdated readiness model, and we bring accountability for our readiness to the wing commander. It will be a better use of our resources given our fiscal constraints and will lead to better-prepared Airmen, which is our main goal."