LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. -- In September 2020, the 913th Airlift Group conducted a Strategic Alignment where squadron leaders identified goals that would make the organization a more lethal fighting force. Currently, there are five ongoing process improvement projects that will be individually highlighted in future stories.
To keep up with the demand of combatant commanders around the world, experts across the 913th Airlift Group are working behind the scenes to streamline the group’s deployment readiness processes and update projected combat capabilities reports.
As an effort to revitalize the force and provide deployment predictability, Tech. Sgt. Connery Carroll, 913th Logistics Plans noncommissioned officer in charge, is leading the review of more than three hundred deployment taskings assigned to each group position.
Right people; right place; right time.
“The goal for any combat coded unit is to be 100 percent deployment ready during our designated Reserve Component Period and arrive 100 percent on time,” said Carroll. “With the work to update our deployment taskings, we should be able to provide predictability regarding when and the length of deployments.”
The group is nearly 80 percent traditional reservists who are required to serve one weekend a month and two extra weeks a year. The group’s positions appropriately aligned to a RCPs provides advance notice to our Airmen whom will have to coordinate their military service with their civilian employers.
“Each unit provides reports on its capabilities to combatant commanders on a regular basis,” said Carroll. “If a commander needs a capability, a unit that is within that deployment RCP period will be ready and have the equipment ready to go to support regular deployment operations or even respond to short notice crises.”
Carroll is working with squadron leadership to outline each positions deployment readiness roles and expectations, equipment, and the appropriate job skill level to achieve the mission. These updates are then reviewed and approved by each career field’s functional manager and then various major commands. Lastly, Carroll is working to solidify a full-time unit deployment manager job position, ensuring the group stays on top of tracking the complex deployment readiness management systems.
The group’s mission is to provide combat-ready Airmen, resulting in experts in a variety of career fields that deploy as teams or individuals. The predictability of deployment cycles provides long-term operational sustainment, improving the lives of Reserve Citizen Airmen and their families.
“There is a lot going on beyond drill weekends,” said James Henjum, group Process Manager. “The administrative work identifying our unit mobility requirements goes a long way to restore and sustain the group’s readiness. The deployment tasking validation and updates have direct mission impact that affects each Airman here.”