Center shares improvements, progress at self-inspection review Published Oct. 30, 2008 By Daryl Mayer 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio -- With the added emphasis on compliance recently articulated by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz in the fore, meetings such as the self-inspection review hosted by Lt. Gen. John Hudson, Aeronautical Systems Center commander, will likely become commonplace. In fact, this meeting was the fourth year the center has brought together representatives of each of the seven wings to share information from each unit's self-inspection program review, according to Dennis Lange from the Installation Inspector General's Office. The meeting this year also saw representatives from two of Wright-Patterson's larger tenants, the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Air Force Security Assistance Center, as well as members of the Air Force Materiel Command IG team. "This has served us well in the past," said General Hudson. "To take a look at ourselves and then discuss it in a forum such as this is very beneficial." Across the center, self-inspections were conducted over the past summer using AFMC and locally-produced checklists, Air Force Instructions and previous inspection reports to guide their assessments. "The purpose of this forum is to capitalize on our self-inspection program by discussing results that may show systemic issues that cut across organization lines," Mr. Lange said. As the discussion proceeded, some of these issues soon became apparent. One area identified as needing further analysis was on the duties formally performed by the ASC section commander. As part of the past center reorganization, the section commander position was abolished and those duties moved to the center's wings. While all units confidently reported success in this area, the commander wanted more proof. "We need to ensure functions previously done by the ASC section commander have successfully migrated to the various wing organizations and didn't fall through the cracks," General Hudson said. "If the current checklists don't do an adequate job of looking at this, then we ought to invent it ourselves." In this case, as with others, a unit commander may know the functions are being done, but that isn't enough. The final hurdle is being able to prove with documentation or some other type of evidence that the job is being done up to standards, Mr. Lange said. One way discussed that would help in this area is using members from one section to visit another to run checklists. Some organizations found taking members with little or no base knowledge of the job at hand to do the "inspecting" put the onus on the host organization to really "prove" they were in compliance. That, according to Mr. Lange, is a good thing. Another area, electronic records management, repeatedly came up in assessment reports. Although training standards were being maintained, reoccurring training requirements in an environment with constant personnel turnover was a challenge. "Training is one part of this," General Hudson said. "But, we also need to take the time to do the electronic filing." Several representatives spoke about looking for innovative ways to facilitate electronic filing, to include software solutions that would ease transferring files from Outlook to the ERM system. Often, ideas pitched around in such forums lead to solutions that benefit the organization as a whole, according to Mr. Lange. Other topics that were discussed, such as Automatic External Defibrillators and Career Field Education and Training Plans, may well benefit from similar innovations as a result of the forum. In closing, General Hudson challenged everyone to pay particular attention to past inspection reports and ensure past wrongs have been righted. "There is nothing wrong with identifying deficiencies," General Hudson said. "We want them known, to smoke them out and then get them fixed."