JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas –
Innovation is central to the Airman ethos, exemplified by historical milestones such as the 1942 Dolittle Raid’s bold launch of B-25 Mitchell bombers off a Navy aircraft carrier to transform long-range bombing techniques, the 1975 Red Flag exercises that revolutionized combat readiness, and 2017 Project Maven’s unprecedented integration of machine learning for intelligence analysis.
The U.S. Air Force Core Values (1997) emphasize continuous improvement, stating, "We must have a passion for continuous improvement and innovation that propels America's Air Force in quantum leaps towards accomplishment and performance." Cultivating this 'Good, Better, Best' mindset — a belief there is always room for improvement — drives Airmen and Guardians to constantly pursue excellence, where performance and credibility are paramount.
These purposeful habits of improvement fuel cultural transformation across the Department of the Air Force. Department of the Air Force (DAF) Instruction 38-401, Continuous Process Improvement (CPI), and DAF Instruction 38-402, Airmen Powered by Innovation and Suggestion Program mandate that leaders make improvements operational — not optional.
As good stewards of the American public, President of the United States’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Cost Efficiency Initiative highlights the importance of critically examining
the cost streams to eliminate waste and add value across national defense apparatus. Now more than ever, we need to foster a CI² approach to optimize everything we do to increase readiness and productivity by freeing up manpower, time, and money from non-value activities.
Darla Kelly, Secretary of the Air Force (SAF) Performance Management & Innovation’s Certified Master Black Belt Instructor, shared “CI² provides a way to help solve problems, share ideas, and develop individuals into positive change agents at every echelon of the organization—a key enabler to ensuring we stay efficient, flexible, and mission-focused.”
Over the past 18 years, I’ve leveraged CI² to deliver executive IT at the White House Communications Agency, manage Senior Leader talent at the Pentagon, and command two squadrons. This article intends to share three personal CI² vignettes highlighting the return-on-investment during three crucible events in our nation’s history.
As a junior captain in 2012, I started my formal Continuous improvement and innovation (CI2) journey by completing Green Belt training at Robins Air Force Base. The training was life altering, as it gave me a newfound perspective to think, tools to act, and confidence to lead with purpose.
By the early 2010s — nearly a decade after Sept. 11 attack — the Air Force was facing the strain of sustained global operations. The major challenge was having the bandwidth to focus on reconstitution and the in-garrison responsibilities to ensure long-term readiness.
The 5th Combat Communication Group, whose rallying cry is "5th MOB, Let’s Go!," faced a demanding deployment cycle to deliver expeditionary communications worldwide and limited resources in-garrison to manage the life-cycle management of equipment. This is when we realized over 100 plus CONEX containers filled with outdated equipment had accumulated and scattered across the deployment yard over the years.
To address this issue, we applied Lean’s “Go to Gemba” approach (going to the place where the work is done) and 6S tool (Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize, Sustain, and Safety). We opened all the containers, scrutinized item-by-item, then turned excess government property to Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services to reuse, transfer, or donate before being sold or scrapped.
This resulted in more than 377,000 items cleared, ranging from Vietnam-era typewriters to obsolete tents, reducing cargo processing time by 13 hours and sharpening our readiness to deploy 271 Unit Type Codes (specialized capability package of equipment and personnel to meet Air Force mission needs) anywhere, anytime.
Retired Col. William "Bill" Waynick, former 5th Combat Communications Group Commander and U.S. Air Force Academy CyberWorx Director, said, “What mattered wasn’t just cleaning up a yard — it was embracing design thinking. By bringing diverse experts from various specialties, the team was able to analyze the convergence of people, processes, and technology to solve problems and create a warfighting advantage.”
Later, the COVID-19 pandemic further reshaped military operations, requiring an immediate pivot to distributed operations to overcome social distancing, quarantine, and restricted travel.
As Commander of the 505th Communications Squadron, I had the responsibility of sustaining the IT backbone for the Air Force’s C2 Center of Excellence at Hurlburt Field. The answer wasn’t just technology — it was discipline. We implemented Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track system performance and employed the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle to adapt operations in real time.
By proactively eliminating end-of-life (EOL)/end-of-support (EOS) technologies and investing in a secure IT baseline, we were prepared to execute the Department of the Air Force’s IT enterprise plan of rapidly establishing secure telework capabilities. Even during the pandemic, the unit was able to sustain 150 joint training, experiment, and test events, connect 239,000 warfighters, and train 190 joint senior leaders annually without interruption.
Brig. Gen. Richard Dickens, former 505th Command and Control Wing commander, stated, “The ability to rapidly adapt and innovate ensured mission continuity during a time of crisis. Making readiness a priority, and striving for both incremental and radical improvements, enabled us to equip joint warfighters with the necessary training at a time when the world around us had grounded to a halt.”
Today’s Air Force operates in an environment marked by strategic competition and fiscal constraints. Unlike the post 9-11 reconstitution after the surge years or crisis-driven urgency of COVID-19, the current challenge involves preparing for high-end conflict, while down-scaling government resources.
In my previous role, as the commander of the 502d Communications Squadron — the U.S. Air Force’s largest communications squadron — I witnessed firsthand the critical role first-line supervisors played in giving our organization the decisive edge. They served as the vital link between commander’s intent with tactical execution necessary to support 267 mission partners across 11 operating locations on the Department of Defense’s largest joint base.
We launched rapid improvement events using Value Stream Mapping (VSM) to visualize processes end-to-end. By mapping each step of network maintenance and customer support, supervisors empowered their team to improve availability by resolving bottlenecks, security by proactively identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities, and resiliency by removing single point of failures.
Christopher Pettingill, SAF Performance Management & Innovation Instructor and Lean Sigma Master Black Belt, analyzed the Green Belt Training completion ratio data and noted the 502d Air Base Wing outperformed established statistical limits. Pettingill highlighted, “The 502d CS was integral in the 502d ABW shattering the ‘normal’ distribution, resulting in the No, 1 Wing in Air Education and Training Command and No. 2 Wing in the Department of the Air Force.”
According to Brig. Gen. Randy Oakland, Joint Base San Antonio and 502d Air Base Wing commander, “Fostering a growth-mindset, where leaders are equipped to leverage data for rapid decision-making, is an operational imperative to ensure we outpace our adversaries and maintain our competitive advantage.”
Leaders must invest in our people by giving them the necessary skills to leverage data to advance the organization and accelerate the decision-making process faster than our adversaries is an operational imperative.
Adam Edwards, Leadership Coach for the U.S. Space Force Talent Management Office Assessments and Guardian Foundational Capabilities Team, echoed this point by sharing how “enhancing your critical thinking skillset and curiosity enables leaders to ask the right questions, build meaningful connections, and reach their full potential within the unit.”
CI² isn’t just for commanders — it’s for every Airman and Guardian. Those who complete the training earn a Special Experience Identifier (SEI) or Defense Personnel Data System (DCPDS) code, which signifies you earned a specialized training and/or certification in Lean Six Sigma methodologies to identify problems and improve processes.
Register for the Air Force Continuous CI2 e-learning courses through OpusWorks. This valuable training, with an external value of $500 to $3800 per student, is provided free of charge to Department of the Air Force personnel through the Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force, Office of Administration and Management (SAF/AME).