Disciplined Approach to Excellence

  • Published
  • By Col. Thomas Fitch
  • 28th Maintenance Group commander
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. --  The 28th Bomb Wing is comprised of volunteers who believe it is their duty to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. I appreciate everything you are doing everyday for our Air Force. You are a group of great Americans, and I am proud to join you in this worthy work. That said, I'm sure folks are starting to feel the pressure of the Operation Readiness Inspection on the horizon. In my experience, the best way to deal with pressure is to emphasize the basics. If you are not blocking and tackling, it doesn't matter how elegant and detailed your game plan is, you cannot execute it. We must employ a disciplined approach to excellence.

Every person in our wing needs to remember what they do each and every day is important, and we need the absolute best at all times. If you get the basics right at work and in your personal life, (Technical Order discipline, tool control, troubleshooting techniques, scheduling, documentation, personal responsibility, etc.) you can execute your plan. This will not only water the Air Combat Command inspector general's eyes, but more importantly, ensure the folks downrange can destroy enemy combatants, support coalition forces and come home safely.

It doesn't matter if you are launching a jet, drilling a rivet, building a bomb, troubleshooting a system or processing a document, we rely on you to do that task right the first time, every time. The term "good enough" doesn't even enter the conversation in our business. We do our job according to the book, and if the book is inaccurate, or we don't understand it, we push it up-channel until we get an answer.

While effectively executing the basics, we also need everyone to get on board and get engaged in our ORI game plan. Ask questions, make recommendations and get involved in building excellence. You should expect a clear, consistent message from your leadership, and you need to know that we have your back. Expect to see us in your work areas. We want to know what is working, what is not, and what you think we can do to fix it.

Our job is to put jets in the air to go downrange and provide combat airpower. We are part of the best Air Force in the world and what we each do every day really does make a difference in defending this great country. Integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do are not just words; they are the framework for our success.

There is a lot happening between now and April 1. To succeed, we need to stay focused on the things within our control, excel at the basics, and execute our plan. Thanks again to all of you for your service, and I look forward to being part of what I believe to be the finest wing in the United States Air Force.