Sheppard receives high scores for UEI inspection

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jelani Gibson
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Sheppard Air Force Base earned high scores during an Air Education and Training Command unit effectiveness inspection.

The 82nd Training Wing received an 'effective' rating and the 80th Flying Training Wing received a 'highly effective' grade.

Sheppard was the first base in AETC command to be inspected under new UEI guidelines.

The 82nd TRW had 60,000 graduates in 2013 in nearly 1,000 courses, including aircraft maintenance, civil engineering, nuclear and conventional munitions, aerospace ground equipment, avionics and telecommunications specialties. The 80th FTW hosts the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program, the world's only internationally manned and managed pilot training program.

Under the old inspection system AETC would inspect the base every two years, but the base inspection team would be limited in their annual inspection role. Now, the inspection process for the entire base is a continuous process and the inspector general office gets inspected by AETC every two years in order to validate their process of evaluation.

"The wing's 'highly effective' rating is both a testament to our team's professionalism and also an indication that the new Air Force inspection system is achieving its purpose," said Lt. Col. David Toogood, 80th FTW inspector general.

Toogood used the actions of his role models and predecessors as an inspiration.

"In military aviation those who have gone before us were inventors, innovators, risk takers, warriors and many of them we call heroes," he commented. "Regardless of nationality, each of us in the wing has a lineage of role models whose accomplishments cannot be ignored. I think that day in and day out we strive to be as good as our predecessors and we all aspire to one day be a role model that others will follow."

Master Sgt. Michael Dwight, 82nd TRW IG team manager, uses inspections as a way to show commanders aspects of leadership that need to be improved and to help Airmen understand how they factor into the overall Air Force mission.

"People at the base level have an avenue to express where they need assistance," said Jeffrey Brooks, 82nd TRW IG inspection planner.

That approach has the capability to oftentimes bring matters to a commander that could have otherwise have stayed unnoticed.

"Commander's can't take action to fix a problem if they don't know a problem exists," Brooks said.

Brooks knows that not brining an important issue to the attention of leadership can not only have detrimental effects for the IG mission, but the Airmen they serve.

"They (Airmen) swore an oath to serve their country," he said. "If you choose not to care then you're putting the Air Force and the mission at risk. Everything we do is a choice. We can choose to join the Air Force, you choose to serve your country, you choose to come to work every day."

The focus on constant improvement was a factor that played a big role in each wing's grade.

"I think it's a testament to us caring about the mission," Dwight said.

As Team Sheppard continues to do their mission of training and inspiring, the Airmen who drive it will have an avenue to foster excellence in all they do.