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JBSA News
NEWS | June 16, 2008

Exercises for ORI will gauge wing’s day-to-day readiness

By Thomas Warner Staff writer

The 12th Flying Training Wing's ability to handle a major, off-base accident involving hazardous materials will be tested this week. 

It will reflect what might be expected five months from now when the Wing's Operational Readiness Inspection happens, Nov. 16-25. 

"The two major components of an ORI are compliance with directives, and readiness, which includes both deployment readiness and performance during an exercise," said Lt. Col. Andrew Taylor, 12th Flying Training Wing Inspector General. 

ORI exercises are conducted to evaluate and measure the ability of a unit or base to perform in wartime, during a contingency or a force sustainment mission, according to Air Force Instruction 90-201, Inspector General Activities guidelines. 

Most Air Force wings undergo an ORI approximately every three to five years and the 12th Flying Training Wing last had an ORI in the fall of 2005. 

"We earned an 'excellent' on that one, but this time we are shooting for an 'outstanding' mark," said Maj. Roy Tate, 12th FTW Chief of Inspection and Compliance. Major Tate is working closely with Colonel Taylor to assist the wing's leaders in assessing compliance. 

Exercises normally take place every other month and last up to three days, but not so beginning this August. At that point, Colonel Taylor said the 12th FTW will implement a five-day exercise in each of the final three months leading up to November. 

Grades for both the local exercises and the ORI range in descending order from outstanding, excellent, satisfactory, marginal, to unsatisfactory. 

Typically during the ORI contingency operations portion, a wing will be evaluated and graded in three major areas including major accident response, deployment (initial response, mission support, and ability to survive and operate in a hostile environment) and protection of installation resources. 

"Our exercise evaluation team consists of people with both depth and breadth of experience with exercise evaluation," said Colonel Taylor, who pointed to the wing's Exercise Evaluation Team as 'perfect' for the task. 

"The focus of our exercise program is on responding to potential contingency or emergency events and not merely preparing for an ORI exercise," said Henry King, EET chief. 

Colonel Taylor said being ready for life prepares Airmen for an ORI. He said everyday readiness can and will facilitate performance under pressure and that's nothing new to the 12th FTW. 

"An 'outstanding' grade is possible, but that takes a great deal of commitment and clear vision of all people at the wing level," Colonel Taylor said.