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3 wings ace UEI Capstone

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Katherine Tereyama
  • Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  Three Air Force wings here completed a Unit Effectiveness Inspection cycle Feb. 27, with the wings' first Capstone event of the Air Force's new Commander's Inspection Program.

The 87th Air Base Wing and the 514th and 305th Air Mobility Wings each earned an "Effective" rating and garnered dozens of total strengths and crosstells, making it clear the wings' CCIPs are "on track and healthy," according to the inspectors general.

"There were many areas of excellence noted by the inspectors both verbally and within the report," Lt. Col. Eric Moomey, 87th Air Base Wing inspector general continued. "Our best feedback is validation, that we have a solid CCIP program."

"The lead inspectors [from higher headquarters] brought a lot of CCIP experience and exposure to the table," agreed Lt. Col. William Wade, 305th Air Mobility Wing inspector general. "They reinforced the fact that they were here to validate and verify what our program is seeing locally. Most importantly, they let us know that our wings are effective at completing the mission."
The wings have integrated their inspector general teams to streamline efforts, combining training with joint base exercises and cross-wing inspections. According to the wing inspectors general, this was a huge benefit when navigating through the new inspection program.

"The joint IG offices worked together so seamlessly and with such commitment that it felt like a single body," said Capt. Gwendolyn Soden, 514th Air Mobility Wing inspector general. "We started by establishing a philosophy and we were flexible in our execution of the various CCIP pillars. This allowed us to see what worked and what didn't. There was respect and allowances for each wing's unique mission."

The new CCIP greatly differs from the legacy system where higher headquarters inspectors came to a base to determine the percentage of compliance. According to Brian Leep, 87th ABW director of inspections, this led to a lot of inspection preparation or "painting the grass green," since each wing commander is responsible for approximately 60,000 items.

"Given the reality, at no time would any commander be able to say they are 100 percent compliant in all 60,000 items at all times," said Leep. 

The new program focuses on identifying areas of non-compliance. This allows commanders to see which areas of their wing need attention and enables them to identify priorities and devote resources.

"We do an outstanding job of being transparent," said Lt. Col. Eric Moomey, 87th ABW Inspector General. "The CCIP is not about preparing for an inspection, but rather a culture of continuous improvement."

The CCIP is a two year cycle culminating in a Capstone event. The Capstone event is similar to the legacy program in that a team of inspectors from higher headquarters comes to the base to monitor the base's progress. However, rather than looking for 100 percent compliance in all items, the team ensures that the wings have identified all areas of non-compliance and have created a corrective action plan for that continuous improvement.

As Soden stated, having three wings working together through this new program while it's in its infancy is an enormous benefit.

"Within the construct of the CCIP, all five Air Force wings [at JB MDL], which included active duty, Guard and Reserve components, work closely together to build their programs and share good ideas and best practices," agreed Moomey. "It was evident to the inspectors that we were working closely together."

It was also recognized in each of the wing's post-inspection reports from higher headquarters as a strength.

With continuous improvement in mind, there were also several best practices noted among the wings, including the joint base's Business Innovation Office, the renovated Community Action Forum, and an automated program the streamlines Management Internal Control Toolset checklists.

One Airmen, Tech. Sgt. Bryan Popke, 87th Communications Squadron NCO-in-charge of quality assurance, created what he calls "Shellpoint," an automated program that transfers and cross-references MICT data, and validates MICT assessments and checks for missing information and then provides discrepancies to the validator.

The program provides updates quickly, and at a rate of 1,000 per second, saves tons of man hours, while giving commanders a current and accurate picture of the unit's self-assessment.

"With ShellPoint, not only was that time investment reduced to one hour or less, but each tier is able to pull up-to-date information directly from the source, without needing to solicit downward for updates, minutes before it's briefed," said Popke.  "Other units had already started adopting the script before the [Capstone event] kicked off, so we estimated there to be 156 total man-hours saved per week between 13 organizations."

The program is so effective, it is not only being adopted on the joint base, but inspectors have recommended its implementation throughout the Air Mobility Command, according to the report issued by the Air Mobility Command IG.

The joint base's Business Innovation Office was also recognized during the Capstone event for their solution in creating a joint version of Air Force Smart Operations in the 21st Century (AFSO 21) that operates at the wing level.

"AFSO 21 is typically part of manpower - which is an element, within a flight, within a squadron, within a group, within the wing," said Mike Stefani, 87th ABW Plans and Programs Business Innovation Office chief.  "We have a benchmark program because we have brought the innovation program to wing level and incorporated it with the Joint Base Business Office within plans and programs. That's our Wing Commander making bold innovative decisions, which happens to be the goal of this program."

This falls directly in line with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III's priorities of encouraging Airmen to be bold leaders in innovation, and the new CCIP, which encourages continuous improvement through identifying areas that are lacking and dedicating resources based on the commander's priorities for corrective action.

"We can align very closely with the CCIP and the IG," at the wing level, said Stefani. "We are able to reach into the program, find the opportunities through MICT, assist with developing corrective action plans and provide the innovative link to the Wing's CCIP."

Having a direct link to the commander has a multitude of benefits, Stefani continued, including the ability to reach the across the entire joint installation, rather than just the Air Force Wing. 

"Coming up with innovation, coming up with ideas, pushing continuous process improvements, taking risks and not being afraid to fail or to make those changes, " - that is the purpose of the joint base's business innovation office, said Tech. Sgt. Robert Vaughn, 87th Air Base Wing Business Innovation Office chief. "We don't want to break the rules, but we need to change them to be more innovative. We need to push that culture change across that Air Force. Since our focus is not just staying with our Airmen, but because we're a joint base, expanding that same type of principle across the joint base spectrum, including all service members."

"You've heard 'Airmen empowered by innovation' - we're an installation empowered by innovation," agreed Stefani.