Twitter
Facebook
by Tech. Sgt. Wendee Marshall
1st Combat Communications Squadron
***image2***There are 118 steps to the 1st Combat Communications Squadron’s pre-deployment process. This translates to an Airman traveling 65 miles in order to get to all the offices and people they have to contact to deploy.
This astonishing fact was revealed during an Air Force Smart Operations 21 meeting of 1st Combat Communications Squadron.
The 1st CBCS is the European Command’s No. 1 choice for providing theater-wide deployable communication. This squadron is no stranger to the deployment process.
Whether its enabler support to Air Expeditionary Force rotations, communications support to joint task force exercises, or short-notice taskings to provide command and control capabilities in austere deployed locations, 1st CBCS members have a system to get their people where they are needed anywhere in the world. But, even in a system that enables personnel and equipment to deploy in less then 72 hours, it could still use improvement.
Recently, 25 deployment-experienced combat communicators formed a tiger team to apply AFSO 21 concepts to streamline their deployment process. With only a few days into the week-long session, the team identified several facts.
“The continuous meetings, deployment checklist requirements, and driving back and forth between buildings adds up quickly to personnel who are preparing themselves and their equipment for a mission,” said Staff Sgt. Brian Lucas, 1st CBCS future operations and unit deployment manager.
The tiger team also identified that it takes an average of 361 personnel from various units and organizations to support one person getting out the door for a deployment. Also, only .02 percent of the time does a deployment for a mission run through smoothly with absolutely no hiccups or problems along the way.
This kind of information allowed the team to focus on the areas that add the least amount of value to their customers, which are the units and organizations who are requesting their support.
“We recently reorganized the structure of this squadron and this team is finding ways to streamline all our processes and allow us to do business better to meet our customer’s requirements,” said Capt. Jason Kane, 1st CBCS Bravo flight commander. “This has been an invaluable experience and is teaching everyone how to apply concepts that will improve their workcenter’s and flight’s performance.”
