EDITORIAL: It’s a Tough Call

  • Published
  • By Col. Brad Spacy
  • 88 Air Base Wing commander
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  It is a tough call whether to open or close the base, have an authorized delay, or late report to allow us time to clear the parking lots. Just so you know, it is my call and a responsibility I take very seriously.

Also just so you know, a lot of very good people are up all night helping me make this call. Through their hard work I get a feel for what is going on in the surrounding area before I have to make the call prior to 0400. We look at a variety of things; predicted snowfall, ability to clear base roads and parking lots, off-base driving conditions (ODOT, State Police, local PD and FDs), and our best prediction on what conditions will be like throughout the day. I look at all this and balance the need to do the many critical missions on Wright-Patt with the ability to get everyone to and from work safely.

The last two weeks have been tough ones for making the weather call. The storms and weather systems have been changing quickly and off-base driving conditions have been equally unpredictable. To make matters even tougher, our 656-SNOW Line has been malfunctioning--we don't know what's wrong with it. We thought we had it fixed last week but then Tuesday morning it began playing both accurate and inaccurate messages at random and there doesn't appear to be any technical reason for it. We have a team working on it and may end up replacing the whole system.

This week was especially confusing because on Tuesday morning I changed the call from "don't report until 1000" to "base closed", so I thought I would take a minute to tell you how it went down.

My MSG commander called me Tuesday morning at about 0345 and we conducted a conference call with all the weather players; Command Post, Security Forces, Fire Department, CE Snow Control, and of course our weather shop. The collective assessment was that while there were some slick roads especially in smaller communities, most were clear enough for safe travel and the main arteries were fine. That said, CE said they needed some additional time to finish clearing parking lots so I made the call for a "no earlier than 1000" report.

Contrary to what some people think, we don't all just go back to bed once I make the call. We stay awake and monitor all our information systems to make sure we stay up with conditions. As Tuesday morning wore on I became concerned with a potential for more snowfall during the day than anticipated. I was still confident we could get everyone to work safely, but didn't want to have to turn everyone around if the snow got heavier like last week. I discussed this with the various experts and decided to change the call to "base closed except for base essential personnel." I didn't do this until about 0800--very late in the game.

I didn't make this decision lightly. I knew it would be hard to notify everyone before they left home and despite our best efforts, some would miss the updates and show up for work. Although this would surely be irritating for those folks, I knew the roads were fine for the commute (remember I was concerned about the afternoon) and people could return home before more severe weather rolled in. Angry perhaps; but safe.

Once I changed the call, the Command Post Controllers worked feverishly to re-run extensive notification checklists and attempt to get the word out to the most people in the shortest time. Those who have ever worked in a command center know how hard this is on a normal day, but it was particularly hard in this case because I was asking them to deviate from established checklists and reach out to dozens of outlets simultaneously--and very fast. As we notified organizations we suggested they do telephone recalls if necessary and some did. The Command Post Controllers did a great job.

This was the right call. I know some of you are angry you didn't get the word earlier but the situation was changing rapidly and I made the call as soon as I was confident I had the best information I was going to get. The storm didn't roll in as heavy as I feared so we probably would have been fine had I kept the base open--it was a conservative call but I was concerned about safety.

We live in Ohio and it is winter; we will have more severe weather. Our system for analyzing weather and its impacts is very good, but no system is perfect. Once in a while things will change and we will have to adjust on the fly. Prepare the best you can, be good wingmen, and regardless of the official weather call, always make sure you do the smart, safe thing--there are thousands of Airmen around the world counting on you!
Thanks for your patience, cooperation, and understanding--OOORAH!!!