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Work smarter

  • Published
  • By Capt. Kevin Morris
  • 375th Operations Support Squadron
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  My Air Force experiences, up to this point, have dealt primarily with school and trying to be the best communications officer I can be. It is not often officers are afforded true career broadening opportunities and I am one of the fortunate few to get such a learning experience. 

As part of a career broadening officer exchange between the Air Force Communication Agency and the 375th Operations Group, I have been granted the opportunity to learn about operations by working in the 375th Operations Support Squadron to see how the mission is accomplished in the "Ops World." 

I have learned a lot during the four months I have worked in the OG, but a few lessons made an impact. 

Any person fortunate to see the view of Scott Air Force Base from the 15-story-tall Air Traffic Control Tower would find it magnificent; but just as impressive is the 270-degree simulator housed on the 14th story. It renders a realistic view of the airfield, with representations of aircraft, weather and other conditions. 

It recognizes the voice input of the controllers to add a degree of realism.
My prior Air Force training never exposed me to "real-world" training opportunities. I am sure this is the same for other career fields. I realized a good training program utilizing simulation can give people a better feel for real-world events and can, in some cases, drastically reduce the time it takes to fully qualify new personnel. 

Last year's PBD-720 personnel reductions made us learn how to work smarter. Through leveraging technology, the weather flight usually does not have to be manned 24 hours a day. In addition, they have automated many of their standard briefings, reports, and other documents used daily (or even hourly) to update pilots about factors potentially affecting a mission prior to a flight. 

They have managed to decrease the number of repetitive tasks needed to accomplish the mission and have even begun to perform additional duties with fewer people. I knew this could be done, however, I have never seen it applied to this extent and work as effectively as they have done. 

I was also able to shadow the OSS Commander during several group and wing-level meetings to see the wing leadership in action. This opportunity gave me the chance to go beyond the OSS and visit many other organizations. 

I will admit that prior to this experience I had many preconceptions of what working in operations would be like. Probably one of the biggest was everything was going to be easy because everyone bends over for Ops since a large portion of the Air Force mission occurs there. 

However, I found this really is not true. Ops has the same challenges as any other Air Force organization. 

One example is the challenge created by consolidating base functions. The goal of the consolidation is to move the workload and people to a central location to gain efficiencies and do the same workload with fewer people. 

This is an evolving process for both the gaining and losing units. The work still has to get done and the mission must be accomplished. 

Before I came to the OG, one of the things I was instructed to pay attention to was the way my own career field could better support operations and get the mission accomplished. 

What I discovered is that there is a disconnect between adequately training people on how to use new systems before they are fielded and making sure the system is ready for general use. 

The issue comes down to having good customer service and following up both before and after with the users to make sure their needs are met as well as the users providing feedback on how things can be improved. 

Has my short time here demystified Ops for me? Yes and no. 

In the end, Ops is not that different from my own and many other career areas.
For me, the biggest difference was the shift from a technical, predominantly civilian-manned organization at the Air Force Communications Agency, who is dependent on requirements from operators to a mostly military-manned organization dependent on technology and communication equipment to complete the mission. 

Both organizations experience challenges generated by external factors, draw downs and organizational changes. Even though I am out of my own career field, I feel like a member of the unit and able to contribute. The overarching things I am learning apply to all Air Force organizations, not only to Operations. 

In the end, the focus in Ops is the same as the focus throughout the Air Force: the mission and the people.