IG inspections: Transparency, honesty key to solving problems, restoring combat-mission readiness

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Over the past years, hearing the words, "The IG is coming ... " may have struck fear into some, but the staff of today's inspector general office provides a fresh perspective and a new outlook.

The 100th Air Refueling Wing Inspector General's office consists of two sections: IG complaints and the recently-formed IG inspections and readiness.

People generally tend to think of the IG as an office that deals with claims against others, and matters involving surety, discipline and morale. Well, this is true for the complaints section, but a recent addition, inspections and readiness, falls under the 100th ARW commander's inspection program.

"We keep the (100th ARW) commander informed and aware of his wing's effectiveness, compliance and readiness, and provide him an assessment as to whether or not we're combat mission-ready, and if we're ready to execute our mission," said Capt. Sean McCurdy, 100th IG Inspections deputy chief.

McCurdy, from North Falmouth, Mass., said they do this in a variety of ways.

"We have a bunch of tools in our bag, if you will, which allow us to gather data together to give the commander a picture of his wing's overall readiness and ability to execute the mission at a moment's notice."

Focusing on inspections and readiness, they perform periodic inspections at the unit-level, as well as group- and wing-levels. They look at compliance with Air Force instructions, technical orders and other regulations via the management integrated control toolset (an Air Force Portal and SharePoint checklist repository, where shops store their checklists); anything that has been transferred over from the "old-school system," McCurdy said.

With a combined unit inspection scheduled for 2013, it is more important than ever for shops to ensure they are in compliance in all areas, and the IG inspections office is determined to help base members get their work centers prepared.

"We look at the big picture by talking to everyone from the lowest ranking Airman, up to the commander," he said. "We try to get a full-scale view of how the leadership is managing their people, how the unit is being improved and what types of measures are being used to make the unit more effective.

"We're also looking to ensure people are trained, manned and equipped to execute the mission," McCurdy said, adding that not only do they have inspectors going out to workplaces, but they also use MICT.

The IG inspections deputy chief explained that major commands upload checklists onto the site, then individual units can pull and download their specific checklist, run it as applicable, and once completed, the data is compiled to show how compliant or non-compliant the base is in particular areas.

"We help validate those checklists," said Maj. Hollie Diesselhorst, 100th ARW Inspections chief, from Mesa, Ariz. "The number one thing shops can do is ensure their checklists are accurate in MICT, and ensure they are answering them correctly.

"The checklists then provide transparency up through the MAJCOM and even to Air Force-level," Diesselhorst said. "Anyone can then look at the checklists, and if you have a problem or something can't be solved at your level, then bring it up to your supervisor and they'll bring it up to your unit commander. If it's something bigger than the unit, (they should) bring it up to the group commander, then on to the wing commander. That's the key - open transparency," she said.

Diesselhorst added that the inspections and readiness section also plays a big part in getting the 100th ARW mission-ready in other ways.

"We build exercises and scenarios based on what our mission is, to help practice for that real-world event," she said.

In preparation for an inspection, McCurdy said after setting up an appointment with military members in a particular shop, they collect information on the shop from previous inspections. They then review the information, looking for possible trends along with any areas of non-compliance or critical items from the past.

"(Our interviews are) anonymous," McCurdy said. "We ask a full spectrum of questions to each individual. At any point in time, we'll conduct between 30 to 40 interviews, depending on the size of the unit. We aim to talk to at least 25 to 30 percent of the unit."

The interviews are done in a relaxed environment in order to get the most accurate information possible, and the inspectors do not take notes, but will write up their findings after the fact.

"Ultimately, the purpose of the interviews is to identify areas that can be improved upon, as well as areas of strength," he said. "It's anonymous and we go to great lengths to retain that anonymity. We might even find an area where the commander isn't even aware there's a problem; a lot of times things might not go out of a small flight, so a commander won't know that one of his shops is having a morale issue or something like that."

McCurdy added that this method also helps them find and share strengths with other units.

"Transparency and honesty is the big theme of this program throughout the wing, at all levels or our organization," he said. "This will ensure that commanders are aware of all issues within their unit. It's us inspecting ourselves - we're here to help people, so we want them to come to us with issues."

However, both the chief and deputy chief stressed that while they can highlight any issues found, and raise them to a higher level of attention, they do not have the resources to fix them.

"That's down to the unit and supervisors," Diesselhorst said. "But MICT is huge; if an issue proves to be a MAJCOM-wide deficiency, then (U.S. Air Forces in Europe) can help provide funding to get it fixed."

McCurdy added that when they do identify something people weren't aware of, that's a good thing.

"Don't look at it as someone is going to get in trouble," he said. "It means we've identified something in a time where we have more room to prepare or correct that action - if we've identified an issue, let's remedy it and get ourselves back to combat-mission readiness."