Columbus AFB Unit Effectiveness Inspection near

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Amanda Savannah
  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, MS --  The 14th Flying Training Wing Unit Effectiveness Inspection takes place March 23-27.

About 70 Air Education and Training Command Inspector General team members will evaluate the wing on how it complies, on a regular basis, with the four major graded areas, or MGAs, of Managing Resources, Leading People, Improving the Unit and Executing the Mission.

"It's not something you can prepare for," said Lt. Col. Andrew Wistrcill, 14th FTW Director of Wing Inspections. "It's us doing our normal job. They're going to look at how effective we are at doing our job of Producing Pilots, Advancing Airmen and Feeding the Fight."

During the inspection, Wistrcill said Team BLAZE can expect AETC IG team members to conduct individual and group interviews and review unit products to check for compliance with standards.

"They are going to inspect to improve, so they're going to see how you are at following AFIs, not just your [Management Internal Control Toolset] communicators," he said.

This inspection will be the first UEI for the wing since implementation of the new Air Force Inspection System in late 2013. The new AFIS empowers wing commanders to run their wing's inspection system. By doing this, each commander is able to focus on improving mission effectiveness every day. The goal of the new system is to make inspections a nonevent and part of the daily battle rhythm of continuous improvement.

"The new inspection system is a continuous process," Wistrcill said. "Our inspectors are continuously evaluating, or inspecting, the stuff we do."

This means that though the inspectors will only physically be on base for the week, they've been inspecting the wing already and the process won't stop when they leave.

"The inspectors are here for that week. Once they're done, we continue in this new inspection system," Wistrcill said. "They've been inspecting us already; they already have a lot of the data. Once we finish up on 30 March, guess what? They're going to be back here again two years from now.

"Just because they're done, doesn't mean the inspection stops. You're still going to run your MICT communicators every period from there on out, and the wing inspection team is still going to go out and inspect different places."

Wistrcill offered some final advice from him to Team BLAZE members.

"Be proud of your job; talk about the good things we do as the 14th Flying Training Wing," he said. "And follow your training. Go back to what you know, what you have learned and the AFIs as the source documents."

(Information from an Air Force News story contributed to this article.)