Elmendorf receives excellent ORI rating

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman David Carbajal
  • 3rd Wing Public Affairs
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  After seven days of responding to scenarios including evacuations, fires, riots, hazardous material, missile attacks and offensive airstrikes, the 3rd Wing received an overall excellent rating during the 2009 Operational Readiness Inspection June 1-7. 

The inspection allowed the Pacific Air Forces Inspector General to validate the 3rd Wing's readiness and capability to deploy people, cargo and aircraft to a forward location. It also tested the wing's ability to survive and operate in a combat environment.
Col. Thomas Bergeson, 3rd Wing commander, announced the results to hundreds of Arctic Warriors at the ORI outbrief at Paxton Park June 12. 

"Given the circumstances that we faced leading up to this ORI, I truly in my heart believe that you, and we, are outstanding," Bergeson said. 

During the outbrief, the commander presented coins and awards to the wing's top 10 outstanding performers as selected by the PACAF inspectors. These individuals represented nearly 100 other outstanding performers also selected during this inspection. 

For this ORI, Elmendorf was tasked to process nearly 900 people for mock deployment and completed that feat without discrepancies. 

The wing also generated 36 participating aircraft, and completed the task without any discrepancies. 

During phase two, the inspectors evaluated 135 sorties and all of them had on-time take offs. Fighting a mock air-to-air battle with "red" forces, Elmendorf's F-15C Eagles and F-22A Raptors compiled a 343-3 kill ratio. 

The 150 PACAF inspectors evaluated more than 3rd Wing units. They also inspected the Alaska Air National Guard's 176th Wing, based at Kulis Air National Guard Base in Anchorage. Like the 3rd Wing, the 176th Wing also received an overall excellent rating.