News

UCI about more than following checklists

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Sean A. Pederson
  • 100th Civil Engineer Squadron
With only 52 days until the unit compliance inspection, preparation is key to showing the U.S. Air Forces in Europe Inspector General team we know how to conduct business at RAF Mildenhall. 

The first thing we need to understand is that following a USAFE checklist only meets the minimum standards. Checklists are a starting point, and the best you can hope for while adhering to checklist items is a satisfactory-level grade. To really show our best, we need to know the guidance on which the checklists are based. 

A UCI is essentially an open-book test. Prior to the inspection, contact your USAFE functional manager and ask for clarification on areas that may be confusing or unclear. For instance, some directions given in Air Force guidance may contradict what is done when working in a foreign country.
 
If you're unsure if your procedures follow a correct interpretation of the AFI, the USAFE functional can tell you if it does. When you get clarification from your USAFE counterparts, make sure you can provide proof of that clarification (at least an e-mail), especially if there is contradiction. 

No one is perfect. If you have non-compliance issues, be sure to document action plans to fix them. That goes a long way. When you know something is noncompliant, don't try to hide it. The inspectors will find it. When they do find it, don't take it personally and argue with them. Understand that a single write-up won't sink the ship. You don't have to flaunt the problems, but don't deny them when they're noted. 

Find out what inspectors want to look at so you can have the products ready for them. You want to answer questions before they're asked. When saying you're compliant, the inspector is going to ask you to prove it.
 
Have your supporting information readily available, and tell the inspectors exactly where it is. You're opening yourself up to questions when the inspector has to dig for proof.
Be responsive to inspector-identified issues. Take the initiative to resolve items prior to the inspection's end. If only a sample of an item is inspected, and it happens to be unsatisfactory, ask for another sample to be taken. That may not eliminate previous items, but your percentages will improve. 

When talking to an inspector, pay no attention to language similar to inspection ratings. If an inspector were to say something like, "This is one outstanding product," don't take that as a final grade of your inspection. Inspectors don't know what the grades will be until they've looked at everything. 

If you plan an in-brief for your inspectors, keep it brief, no more than 10 minutes. A welcome package containing such information as unit organizational charts, maps highlighting your unit's functional areas and contact information for key individuals should be provided to your inspectors.
 
A list of significant projects to improve the way you do business is good information to have in the package. All information in the package should also be available on a CD.
Throughout the inspection, squadron commanders need to have a good idea on how their units are doing. Make sure your leadership chain is aware of the good and bad things noted by the IG. There shouldn't be any surprises during the wing out-brief at the inspection's end. 

The most important thing we can do to help ourselves is project the most professional image possible - from our facilities to our uniforms. 

The IG team is primarily here to help us. They're not the bad guys looking to write us up. They're here to tell Gen. Tom Hobbins, USAFE commander, how well we do business, and how we can improve. 

So let's put our best foot forward. Let's show USAFE that RAF Mildenhall knows how to conduct business on a daily basis.