JBER inspection garners high marks across wings

  • Published
  • By Air Force Staff Sgt. Zachary Wolf
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson hosted members of the Pacific Air Force Inspector General from March 4 through 10 for a Comprehensive Unit Inspection.

A CUI ensures a base is mission-ready and fully compliant with applicable guidance and regulations.

The 3rd Wing entered the CUI slightly more than a year after their previous inspection.
"With this more in-depth look, the IG was very helpful in identifying areas that we can continually improve upon despite the difficult challenges that we face every day," said Air Force Col. Dirk Smith, 3rd Wing commander.

The 3rd Wing earned an "excellent" overall rating.

"Preparing for the CUI was really stressful and time-consuming because not only do you have your normal duties, you have extra duties you have to attend to because you have suspense to meet," said Senior Airman Derrick Garcia, 3rd Wing commander's support staff.

The Laredo, Texas native also gave advice to others preparing for an inspection.
"The main thing is paying attention to detail and maintain your programs monthly in order to not stress and feel overwhelmed," Garcia said.

Following those the guidelines, Garcia helped update and maintain more than 13 programs in the 3rd Wing Command Section and earned an "excellent" rating for that section.

"Once again, congratulations and thanks for your world-class performance," Smith said in a congratulatory message sent to the entire wing.

The 176th Wing finished a triple inspection from its higher headquarters March 12 with an overall satisfactory grade, indicating the wing is effective and competent.

"Our job is to train toward our federal mission and stand ready to support Alaska's communities in an emergency," said Air Force Col. Donald Wenke, 176th Wing commander. "We have to maintain integrity and build faith and confidence in Alaskans. Compliance inspection results show we are good stewards of their tax dollars."
Even though the inspection was coming, the 176th's mission didn't stop.

"In the past 12 months, we've picked up a wing, moved, had two major deployments and prepared seven and a half months, all without cessation of flying," said Capt. Luke Davis, the logistics operations officer from the 176 Logistics Readiness Squadron, commenting in an article by the 176th Wing about the logistics squadron's challenges.
Preparations for the inspection took many forms.

"We had done over 120 internal self-inspections before they came," said Air Force Lt. Col. Sharolyn Lange, the chief of nursing services for the 176 Medical Group, in a article from the 176th Wing.

The 212th Rescue Squadron, which falls under the 176th Wing earned an "outstanding," which is the highest rating possible.

"I would like to say thank you to the members of this wing," Wenke said. "Thank you for the hard work each of you put in to make this a success. I am extremely proud of everyone's professionalism and teamwork."

JBER's wing commander had similar sentiments.

"I would like to thank the inspector general team for coming out to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and the opportunity to show how well JBER works as a joint base," said Air Force Col. Robert Evans, JBER and 673d Air Base Wing commander.

Part of the inspection was a test of JBER's emergency response actions, with an exercise that simulated an active shooter on base.

It started as a credible, but non-specific threat to the installation which brought the base to Force Protection Condition Charlie, in which an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action against personnel and facilities is imminent.

This was implemented to increase JBER's vigilance and posture the installation to defend against a possible terrorist attack.

In the scenario, a group of Soldiers and Airmen were attending a pre-deployment briefing in the JBER-Elmendorf theater and significant injuries were suffered by those in the front rows of seating when a bomb went off near the stage.

As others tried to exit the theater, a man seated in the back stood up and opened fire. Security Forces defenders entered the theater and engaged the gunman, who was neutralized.

"I want to thank all of you for your patience and your participation today," Evans said. "If we are faced with a dire emergency, as we practiced today, we will be ready. I count on you, and you can count on your JBER team."

The 673d Air Base Wing, including all subordinate organizations, had zero critical deficiencies.

The Base Historian's office is one of those subordinate organizations that earned an "excellent" rating.

The main mission of the 673d Air Base Wing History Office is to record and write the accomplishments of the 673d Air Base Wing, 3rd Wing, Eleventh Air Force, Alaskan Command and the Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region.
They also respond to a large number of inquiries from commanders, service personnel, and the public-at-large regarding the history of JBER and the units assigned here, both current and historically.

They also maintain an extensive archive of historical documents and photographs including histories of units going back to their earliest days.

In addition to their duties at JBER, as civilians, they deploy with the Air Force in support of contingency operations, said Douglas Beckstead, wing historian.

"In preparation for the CUI, we simply continued to provide the highest level of service to the JBER community," Beckstead said.

The inspectors also identified eight functions that they described as the "best seen to date" and eight programs that will be forwarded to the command as potential "best practices."

The 673d Air Base Wing scored an "excellent" rating on their portion of the CUI.

"While we can all be proud of these inspection results, we must not be satisfied; we must always strive for perfection and excellence in all we do," Evans said.

"The report identifies many areas that require our continued attention and focus. I know each of you will do your part to ensure we remain Arctic Tough, Mission Ready and Family Strong," Evans said.