AF revamps inspection processes

Published Aug. 4, 2013
By Tech. Sgt. Andrew Caya
914th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION, N.Y. -- Some big changes are occuring in Air Force inspections, according to the Air Force Reserve Command Inspector General.

Brig. Gen. John J. Mooney III stated that the Unit Effectiveness Inspection will be the commencement of a new process in which the old system of "top-to-bottom inspections" will cease to exist.

"A UEI is a Unit Effectiveness Inspection and it is a complete change of direction for us and how the Air Force is going to conduct inspections going forward," said Mooney.

"Right now our wings spend an awful lot of time and energy getting ready for either a readiness inspection or compliance inspection. All of that needs to go away, and through the UEI process, it will," he added.

According to Mooney, a UEI is a two-year long, continuous look at a wing. Over that two-year period, the Functional Area Managers and the Inspector General will be looking in the Management Internal Control Toolset to verify that appropriate documentation is being uploaded.

"What we are moving towards -- and the Inspector General of the Air Force has decided-- that the wing commanders are responsible for assessing whether his or her wing is capable of doing their mission," said Lt. Col. Mark Ables, 914th Airlift Wing combat readiness officer .

Capt. Lee Crewson, 914th CRO deputy officer stated that there is no incentive for the wing commanders or Inspectors to "pencil-whip" the results of the inspections or skew the data in their favor.

As Operational Readiness Inspections and Operational Readiness Exercises go away, wings will have their own readiness exercises as part of the UEI, Mooney stated.

Under the new system, exercise evaluation teams and the combat readiness office will be renamed wing inspection team and inspector general inspections, respectively, said Mooney.

The IGI and WIT will do what higher headquarters did, said Ables. Instead of an inspection every three to four years, the IGI and WIT will be inspecting the wing more frequently and giving their results directly to the wing commander, he added.

By doing this, in one year the IGI and WIT will be able to observe all the 914th Airmen and the teams can verify that what the 914th troops are doing on their self-assessments is accurate, said Mooney.

"The fundamental difference is that IGI and WIT will be giving the report to the wing commander instead of 22nd Air Force, AFRC or Air Mobility Command," said Ables.

Following the internal inspections, there will be an external assessment by the IG every 24-36 months, said Ables.

The Airmen will do their MICT checklists, the inspectors will look at the checklist virtually and send a smaller group of inspectors to the Wing to look at items that they, the inspectors feel they need to have eyes on.

The inspectors from higher headquarters will be here for a very straightforward reason, said Mooney.

"When an inspection team comes in for a UEI, their job is simply to verify and validate that your wing inspection team is doing what it needs to do, said the general. "We're not down here to see if the 914th Airlift Wing is compliant; we are here to find out if there are areas of unknown non-compliance."

Mooney stated the implementation of the UEI will allow the MAJCOM commanders, the Secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force Chief of Staff to have a better understanding of the true readiness of their units.

The MAJCOMs and NAFs will receive management inspections. Wings will receive UEIs, while groups, squadrons and Airmen will inspected by the wing IG, said Mooney.

"We are going to come here and inspect you while you do your job," said Mooney. "And that's the beauty of it. Everyone should stop focusing on getting ready for inspections and start focusing on doing their job," added the general.

Right now our inspection process is like a snapshot, said Ables. It only shows a quick look at a unit. Not everything a unit does will be highlighted or even seen. With the UEI, the inspection process will be more like a photo album in that "we will be providing the commander with snapshots, throughout the year," Ables added.

"It's an exciting time in the Air Force; it's a challenging time," said Mooney. "This UEI is really a management tool for the wing commanders to ensure their wings are mission-ready."

Mooney concluded that the inspection is a small part of the UEI -- it's verifying that the process in place here, at the wing is giving the wing commander, MAJCOM commander, Secretary of the Air Force and Air Force Chief of Staff the correct information.