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Are you ready for the ORI? Inspection will test McGuire’s ability to operate in wartime

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Monica Dalberg
  • 514th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE McGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST --  Members of the active-duty and Reserve Air Force community here have stepped up training as they prepare to showcase their abilities to operate in wartime conditions. 

Their efforts will culminate in June with an Operational Readiness Inspection, or ORI, in Alpena, Mich. An ORI assesses and measures a unit's ability to successfully and safely carry out operation plans and assigned tasks during a wartime, contingency or force sustainment mission. 

More than 700 Airmen from the active duty's 87th Air Base Wing and 305th Air Mobility Wing and the Reserve's 514th AMW will participate in the ORI. Additionally, members of the 319th Air Refueling Wing from Grand Forks AFB, N.D., the 403rd Airlift Wing from Keesler AFB, Miss., and the 433rd Airlift Wing from Lackland AFB, Texas will also participate in the ORI. 

"The ORI rates a wing's ability to transition from a peacetime to wartime posture, and a unit's capability to engage in and meet wartime taskings," said Maj. John "Rob" Ludington, chief of Wing Plans for the 305th Air Mobility Wing. "Because the scenario is based on a major contingency, this will include things we don't often do in our (Air Expeditionary Force) rotations. The inspection is comprehensive and members of Team McGuire are ready." 

Adding that the Reserve and active-duty wings have accomplished several major training events, beginning with a local exercise in September '08, Maj. Ludington said. "We conducted another Initial Response exercise in January '09 and conducted a full-scale combat exercise at Gulfport Air National Guard Base, Miss., in March '09," he said. 

Wing leadership looked to identify and correct any weak areas found during the exercise in Gulfport. "We are confident that we made in strides to eliminate these deficiencies, Maj. Ludington said. "We're well trained and ready for combat; that will show in our inspection." 

That confidence was echoed by leaders in the 514th. "We're well trained and ready for combat and we will win," said 514th Logistics Readiness Flight commander Lt. Col. Robert Kownacky. "An outstanding grade is certainly within our reach." 

In 2005, both the Reserve and active-duty wings at McGuire earned a "satisfactory" rating.