News>Photo essay: Langley Airmen participate in operational readiness inspection
Photos
F-22 Raptors taxi April 10, 2011, during an operational readiness inspection at Langley Air Force Base, Va. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Teresa Zimmerman)
by Airman 1st Class Teresa Zimmerman
633rd Air Base Wing Public Affairs
4/14/2011 - LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFNS) -- Members of the 149th Fighter Squadron prepare F-22 Raptors during an operational readiness inspection here April 10. The inspection evaluates an installation's ability to efficiently deploy military members, cargo and equipment while adjusting to rapidly changing security conditions.
4/25/2011 9:36:53 AM ET I like the diversity of photos in this slideshow. I guess it IS true that everyone in the AF flies planes. There aren't photos of anything or anyone else for this ORI
hmm, Europe
4/18/2011 1:38:43 PM ET As a member of the career field that has one of the biggest roles in an ORI - can you say ATSO - I find that most personnel could care less about what we have to train them for the ORI until it's a few months away. Then it's headless chicken time. Besides those who have deployed know where their CBRN equipment sits in their bunk hooch tent just collecting dust. The ORI world has no basis in reality.
3E9er, In it neck deep
4/16/2011 12:11:05 PM ET Check out the Langley website for the full details of the wing's earned Excellent. Although I'm confused as to why a slideshow depicting the exercised Deployment of 420 Airmen show only pictures of the F-22... Where are the deployment lines? Where are the mass briefings? Where are the mission support and maintainers who got these birds in the air?
David, Bagram
4/15/2011 3:07:06 PM ET I wonder when the last time an AF-wide cost to benefit was done for ORIs, considering we've actually been deploying and performing the mission for twenty years now? Seems to me like this is an always done it policy and we just keep doing it. If we are already deploying, conducting graded exercises and internal inspections and keeping up with OJT and currencies, why is it necessary to run million dollar readiness inspections if there is no payoff on efficiency?
SW, OK
4/15/2011 11:30:53 AM ET I agree with Joe from Texas. The inspections the AF does are always a complete waste of time. Have a UCI/ORI/LSEP coming up? The AF will give you 9-12 months of a lead time to prepare. Let's be honest about this lead time to prepare. The true mission stops and all we focus on is the upcoming inspection so the Wing Ding can get higher next promotion. Complete waste of time money and resources. Have the team show up without anyone knowing about it and then see just how prepared to meet the mission bases really are. I guarantee not one AF base would pass a UCI if they had zero notice about.
Retired and Inspection Free, Ohio
4/14/2011 9:40:34 PM ET Operational Readiness Inspections are a complete joke and a total waste of taxpayer money. The fact that we still stage them is ludicrous given our current fiscal crisis. Even the man-hours alone that are flushed down the toilet to prepare for these staged events makes me sick. I have a much better idea. Inspectors should just show up without any notice and see if the target organization can perform its mission. It is high time we started thinking outside of the box.
Joe, Texas
4/14/2011 6:30:20 PM ET Train like you fight, fight like you train.
Pete, Just Answering VA
4/14/2011 2:18:28 PM ET In the current times why are we exercising when we have been at war now on three fronts for so long and our country is in the grip of a financial meltdown? I have yet to see our leadership come forward and stop unncessary spending or at least ask us to try to conserve money. Oh well guess we are footing the bills anyway.
