375th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron preparing for CUI Published July 20, 2011 By Samantha Crane 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs Scott Air Force Base, Ill. -- During the upcoming Combined Unit Inspection most groups, squadrons and flights will face only one or two inspections, but for the 375th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, assessments will come on three separate fronts. These fronts are the Compliance Inspection, or CI, led by Maj. Laurie McKenna; Aircrew Standardization and Evaluation Visit, or ASEV, led by Maj. Stephen Urban III and Maj. Chris Nidell; and the Health Services Inspection, HSI, led by Maj. Debra Sims. The ASEV stands out in the respect that this evaluation has already begun. "The ASEV can begin up to 90 days prior to the inspection date," said Lt. Col. Lisa McKinney, 375th AES director of operations. "This inspection focuses on our flyers. It will examine whether or not they are mission ready and if the support functions are in place to keep them up to date on all aspects of flying." Urban said, "To date, we have nearly completed our Air Mobility Command evaluation flights with stellar scores demonstrating the strength and quality of our fliers." The HSI will take place Aug. 23-25 and will examine three areas: leadership, in garrison operations and expeditionary operations. "There are several main areas under expeditionary operations ranging from clinical training and certifications to readiness training and exercise requirements," said Sims. "The in-garrison operations primarily focus on nursing services and operations to include patient safety, infection control and management of medications. Finally, a leadership criterion evaluates executive management, self inspection and oversight of agreements and contracts." Lastly, the CI will take place all week and has the largest scope with 29 compliance areas for the 375th AES alone. "The CI is very broad and will look at all our regulatory programs," said McKenna. "Anything from vehicle operations to security to our publications can be looked at." One of the biggest challenges the 375th AES faced and is still facing now when it comes to preparing is the extremely high operations tempo associated with their mission. "Last year when we really should have been focusing on the inspections, we deployed more than 90 percent of the squadron throughout the year due to the Afghanistan surge so it was difficult to maintain focus on in-garrison tasks" said McKinney. "Preparations really began getting hot and heavy late September after the majority of personnel returned from deployment." Since September, inspection leads have worked with leadership within the squadron to develop a plan for success. "We have since aggressively gone through all of our inspection requirements," said McKenna. "It started with leadership identifying program managers who then went into their functional areas to review the program and work with the personnel in those sections. Everyone meets monthly to ensure the items we are compliant on stay that way while tackling the items that need work." The squadron also emphasized inspection preparation during training days to help familiarize the members of the 375th AES with what they will see during the CUI. In addition, the teams participated in the wing-wide mock inspections, held their own internal inspection and are continuing to follow up with areas identified as still needing work. The squadron as a whole plans to continue the compliance trend even after the CUI is over. "Even after the inspection the items will continue to be looked at so even when we face another deployment, we will remain ready at all times," said McKenna. Another challenge is coordination between inspection teams in areas where assessments overlap. "It has taken immense coordination to figure out how we will get people where the inspectors will need them to be when the CUI begins as some items cross over," said McKenna. The team feels that these intense preparations have created a more tight-knit community within the squadron. "Overall, everyone is doing very well," said McKenna. "This has brought us closer together as a squadron because we all need to support each other." While McKinney maintains that it's a total team effort and every member is vital to the success of the squadron, without the program managers, Sims, McKenna, Urban and Nidell, the squadron would not be as prepared as they are. "Everyone has done a tremendous amount of work," she said. "They've done a phenomenal job preparing us for success."