Operations Group Airmen keep and enforce standards

  • Published
  • By Air Force Staff Sgt. Zachary Wolf
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Being a part of the military, standards are something everyone must be familiar with.

From the wear of the uniform to personal grooming, standards have been set that must be followed. So it is not hard to believe Air Force aircraft have standards that need to be followed as well.

The 3rd Operations Group Standardizations and Evaluations Shop ensures these standards are followed.

"Each squadron has a unit stan/eval function, so our big-picture job up here is to keep all the units standardized," said Shawn Brumfield, 3rd OG Standardizations and Evaluations program manager.

The 3rd OG Stan/Eval Shop covers the large variety of aircraft the 3rd Wing has on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

"The unique thing about JBER is the different [Major Design Systems] that we do have," said Air Force Maj. Jason McCarty, 3rd Operations Group Standardizations and Evaluations chief. "We have mobility, command and control intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and fighter assets here, and all those come together to form one stan/eval team."

Members of the 3rd OG Stan/Eval Shop are experienced in their airframe in order to perform the instruction and the evaluations of the personnel performing that specific job. These individuals range from pilots to the aircrew personnel.

"The important thing about this job is you have guys that have been in the airplane longer and have more experience and they can pass on what they have learned to the students," said Air Force Maj. Aaron Gibbs, 3rd OG Standardizations and Evaluations Programs Branch chief.

With all the publications and Air Force Instructions governing the airframes that fit under the 3rd OG, there is a modern program that helps this shop sort schedules and manage tasks easier.

"Patriot Excalibur is a program we use for scheduling all our flights, and then specifically for this office, we use it for our standards and evaluations testing purposes," said Air Force Staff Sgt. Dan Deboodt, 3rd OG standardizations and evaluations publication manager. "We have a database of over 27 question databases for all the aircrew flying positions and in each one of those databases, we carry about 2,500 questions for this entire wing. What we do is we come up with those questions and the publications to run each of these aircraft."

JBER has embraced total force integration and the Stan/Eval shop gets to see first-hand how this component works.

"We have the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command with us and our total force integration is pretty good," Brumfield said. "For instance, we do well between the C-17 (Globemaster III), active duty and Guard, and are working to improve on other areas in the TFI process."

One thing that a lot of the personnel agree on is that the job keeps them on their toes.
"The most interesting aspect of our job is the ability to change," Deboodt said. "A lot of people go to work at 7:30 in the morning and come home at 4:30 in the afternoon and it's the same job and idea every single day... For us, you can wake up one week and you will be getting up at three o'clock all week long, the next day you are going to be in Japan, and you keep rolling with the punches... Our job is unique in that aspect."

Another unique part of being in stan/eval is the ability to change your job role.

"One of the interesting aspects (of my job) is the diversity," Gibbs said. "From specifics of what you are flying that day to being able to change hats, where one day you are an instructor and the next day you are an evaluator, it's something I enjoy and you don't get stuck in one mindset versus another."

With this diversity, there is an opportunity to learn more than just the specific aircraft they are trained on.

"When I was active duty, I was a C-17 guy, so I just focused on C-17 issues," Brumfield said. "Since I have transitioned to the civilian world, I deal with all the different MDSs, so it's really just been a huge learning opportunity."

While the day-to-day job can change, Deboodt stressed the importance of the stan/eval shop as part of the 3rd OG.

"The 3rd OG is very dependent on this office," Deboodt said. "The F-22s [Raptors], the C-17s, the E-3 [Sentries]; all these guys fly on a day-to-day basis and we would have a lot more problems with the aircraft... without an office like this to maintain the publications and the testing facilities to keep the aircrew sharp."