ORI and Checklist Discipline Published March 3, 2010 By Col. Gary Goldstone 375th Air Mobility Wing Commander SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- It was just over a year ago that the 375th Air Mobility Wing received our official notification from the Air Mobility Command Inspector General that the IG team would arrive here in March of 2010 to conduct our Operational Readiness Inspection. We have spent the past year preparing for this validation of our readiness processes and I'm impressed with how far we've come. As we near the final preparations, it's important that we continue to review our procedures and practice checklist discipline. It's very tempting to think we know what to do and ignore checklists, but checklist discipline is the catalyst of safe mission accomplishment . . . and our combat capability relies upon strict checklist discipline. Using checklists is not a sign of weakness but a tool of power to ensure that processes are completed precisely to achieve the desired end result. Protocols provide the proper order of steps to guide us from beginning to end to ensure ours and other's safety and to preserve critical resources. They ensure consistency and reliability of processes, especially important when an emergency arises, or our attention is distracted. Having the discipline to follow procedures--even when we know them by heart--is at the heart of working toward sustainable processes that will not only serve us during the inspection, but also in our day-to-day mission. The 375th Medical Group demonstrated their mission-ready state this past week completing a very successful Air Force IG Health Services Inspection. They did superbly--not only because of their expertise on the job, but also because they demonstrated adherence to strict procedures and protocols. Checklist discipline covers many aspects of our daily mission. Whether it's pre-flighting an aircraft, preparing for an event, or running a recall, using a checklist not only makes certain all the steps are completed but can also rapidly identify when something isn't right so that actions can be taken to resolve the problem. We've worked hard and trained hard, honed our readiness skills, all in an effort to do our jobs well and be operationally ready. Through all of this, we have refined our checklists, practiced them repeatedly and prepared ourselves to better deploy and fight our nation's wars. Now we must have the discipline to follow these checklists. As we make final preparations for the arrival of the IG team, I'm asking everyone to continue to review their equipment, review their folders and training, know and adhere to checklists and complete all other required training needed to be combat ready. We've accomplished a great deal as a team this past year; we're almost there! Let's show everyone that our attitudes are worth catching! Keep working hard, stay focused on the mission through disciplined checklist adherence and our efforts will ensure OUTSTANDING results! Air Power!