Houston Airshow 2024

Inspection, Inspection, Inspection!

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Denise Haeussler
  • 433rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-Lackland --  A Consolidated Unit Inspection took place July 27-28 during the Unit Training Assembly weekend for the 433rd Airlift Wing at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. The outstanding Airmen of the Alamo Wing pushed through a Compliance, and Health Services Inspection, and a Logistics Compliance Assessment Program.

The 433rd AW earned an excellent for the CI, which set the benchmark for the HSI. Three of the four medical squadrons scored an excellent, with the fourth earning a high satisfactory. The LCAP still has some work to do, but there is always room for improvement, said Lt. Col. Dave Scott, 433rd AW Combat Readiness Chief.

"The Airmen of this wing work to meet and exceed standards expected of an AFRC unit," said Col. Jeffrey Pennington, 433rd AW commander. "They hit the ground running with any task. They put in tremendous effort day-in and day-in to be inspection ready and I could not be more proud. We had some folks who were eligible for retirement six months ago, but stuck around through the inspection to make sure the wing performed at its very best."

A compliance inspection is an Air Force inspection conducted to access areas mandated by law, as well as mission areas identified by senior Air Force and command level leadership as critical to the health and performance of a unit.

"Overall, I think the inspection went really well," said Scott. "We knew the areas that were deficient, so the functional managers of that area identified them to the inspectors. The inspectors want to see units self-identifying problem areas and how we are going to fix it."

The unit had to adjust to a new phase of a virtual inspection process.

"For the first time ever, we had a virtual inspection," said Scott. "We had close to 12,000 questions that had to be answered with a document uploaded or a link provided. The wing did an awesome job of putting all of that together. There were only 19 discrepancies out of 12,000 which I think is pretty phenomenal. A lot of people did a lot of hard work to make that happen."

At the same time the CI was taking place, the Medical Group was working hard with the HSI of its three squadrons of Medical, Aerospace Medicine, and Aeromedical Staging. The Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron which falls under the Operations Group was also inspected. An HSI is an inspection that takes place every four to five years to ensure medical units are being operated and managed in a way to maximize effectiveness and efficiency in the Air Force Reserve.

"The inspection went fantastic," said Col. William Blanchette, 433rd MDG commander. "We were elated at how things went. I'm not saying it wasn't tough, the inspectors went through everything, but it went far better than we thought. Our folks are outstanding and it showed for this inspection."

And while Airmen were working hard to complete the CI and HSI, the unit was also involved in the LCAP; an inspection which focuses on checklist compliance, quality verification and personnel evaluations within the Logistics Readiness Squadron's Supply, Transportation, Fuels, Munitions, and Readiness units.

"The Air Force Reserve Command LCAP schedule assesses each wing every four years," said Maj. Peter Springirth, 433rd Logistics Readiness Squadron Operations Officer. "In my opinion, the LCAP validates the Combat Ready Forces and training the LRS accomplishes each month. It's a lot more than just showing documentation. It's just as much an education each time as you have 50 subject matter experts on site for seven days sharing best practices seen firsthand across the wing."

"I never had a doubt," said Pennington. "The 433rd AW is filled with outstanding, hardworking Airmen, and I would never expect anything less from such an awesome group of people."