UEI over, 100th ARW earns 'Highly Effective' overall

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  After two years of continuous hard work and preparation to ensure programs were running smoothly, the 100th Air Refueling Wing went through its Unit Effectiveness Inspection Capstone Event March 23 to 27, 2015.

The overall result, announced by Col. Timothy Hogan, U.S. Air Forces in Europe Inspector General, March 30, was "Highly Effective."

The 100th Inspector General Inspections office ensured the 100th ARW was ready for inspection and the inspectors by continuously working with units, ensuring they were working to the best of their ability and running checklists for their programs.

"We run the Commander's Inspection Program, which involves several requirements we have to meet in accordance with Air Force Instruction 90-201, Air Force Inspection System," said Master Sgt. Shanton Russell, 100th ARW IG Readiness superintendent from Chicago. "Our 'Readiness' section focuses on exercises and inspections in the areas of emergency management, anti-terrorism and force protection conditions; 'Unit Inspections' checks for unit compliance; the 'Management Internal Control Toolset' section is responsible for ensuring unit self-assessment checklists are completed and in order."

Russell explained that individuals involved with the CCIP meet periodically to discuss where the units within the 100th ARW are and if they are meeting the requirements.

The UEI is the process which validates and involves service members from higher headquarters visiting the base and verifying the program for accuracy. They then provide feedback to the 100th ARW commander, letting him know how well the base is doing, which areas may require improvement and which need more effort.

Commanders' Inspection Management Boards have been held bi-monthly, allowing the IG members to discuss various issues with commanders.

"Within the IG Inspections office, we brief them on exercise objectives and let them know whether or not a unit inspection is coming up," Russell added. "We put together surveys, find out what's on the minds of the Airmen, and talk to leaders within the unit to find out exactly what they think of the unit. We want to hear what's on people's minds, what they think and how they feel their units are taking care of them. Then we get into the programs and find out how they're working.

"For MIC-T, we ensure everyone is utilizing their self-assessment checklist. For example, the fire department has their MIC-T checklist which covers everything the functional area manager says they need to be tracking, and they have to run their own checklist to make sure they're compliant," the IG Readiness superintendent said. "Our job is to make sure they're running it and to make sure they have the proper checklist, to find out where they're compliant, if they're not compliant; or if they have deficiencies, if those deficiencies are being fixed."

That information, which is used to validate and verify the checklists are being run as required, is then reported to the 100th ARW commander during the CIMB, which is attended by all group and squadron commanders. Russell explained that the CIMB, together with cross talks, provide a valuable tool for leadership.

"During cross talk sessions, we give feedback to the commanders and we're very open with our program," he said. "We don't want to blindside them, so we give them information and explain to them how they're doing. That gives them an opportunity to fix things, and if they can't fix things then they have time to prepare to discuss those things with the wing commander when we meet for the CIMB."

After an inspection by the IGI office, whether a unit or readiness inspection, a report is put together detailing all strengths and any deficiencies, highlighting whether they are minor, significant or critical. Any recommended areas for improvement are also identified.

These regular inspections throughout the year have proved vital in helping units at RAF Mildenhall maintain a high state of readiness. As the inspection kicked off, Russell said he felt the base was in an excellent position.

"I think we've gone above and beyond - we've already exceeded the standard. If you're always ready, you don't have to 'get ready,'" he said. "None of this is new to us; the UEI shouldn't scare anyone. The old mindset of, 'Let's paint the grass green because someone's coming to our house' no longer exists - at the 100th ARW, we don't paint the grass green, we maintain the lawn! With proper maintenance - inspectors will show up and they'll see a well-cared-for lawn, rather than anything else."

"As the IG, we put a 'mirror' in front of the unit so they get to see how they look. We don't just look for deficiencies, we find best practices," Russell said.

The UEI inspectors found four of those best practices within the 100th ARW, and their ratings covering the four main categories showed RAF Mildenhall's hard work had paid off.

Specific categories were rated as follows:

Managing Resources - Effective
Leading People - Effective
Improving the Unit - Highly Effective
Mission - Highly Effective

Two individuals - 1st Lt. Levi Phelps, 100th Operations Group force protection analyst officer in charge from La Crescent, Minnesota, and Staff Sgt. Koert Lyman, 100th ARW Ground Safety occupational safety professional from Eastham, Massachussets, were named as superior performers.

The UEI inspectors were impressed with what they found at RAF Mildenhall.

"Regardless of where we went on base, we received a very warm reception," said Maj. Amber Strassberger, USAFE IG Office inspector, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, from Dade City, Florida. "Nobody seemed to be caught off guard or unhappy to see us. I specifically focussed on the logistics readiness area. People tended to showcase their programs rather than just go down inspection checklists per se, and it was a more dynamic experience than I had anticipated - people weren't afraid to show their programs off."

The 100th ARW commander was impressed with the results of his team's hard work.

"Thank you for all of your effort (during the UEI)," said Bibb in a base-wide email. "You all work extremely hard to accomplish our mission, and you showed the IG the great work that Team Mildenhall does on a daily basis!

"We had numerous inspections (recently) - Legal, Article 6; Postal; COMSEC, and Weapons Safety - all with fantastic results. You firmly demonstrated to the inspectors that we have the best Airmen and the best wing in the Air Force," the 100th ARW commander said.