Ellsworth 'satisfies' ORI Published Oct. 25, 2010 By Airman 1st Class Alessandra N. Hurley 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. -- A B-1B Lancer fly-by kicked off a celebration, in honor of a successful Operational Readiness Inspection completion, as crowds of Airmen, accompanied by their family members, gathered outside the Dakota club at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., Oct. 22. Airmen and their spouses came together and were treated to a free lunch, live music and a fly-by at the club after successfully accomplishing a series of strenuous war-fighting scenarios during the base-wide inspection. The Inspector General team arrived at Ellsworth Air Force Base, Oct. 12, to find out how prepared Airmen at Ellsworth are to protect themselves, their wingman and fight back against the enemy, when necessary. This is determined by guidance from Air Force Instruction 90-201 which evaluates whether Airmen are able to meet mission requirements when deployed. The overall satisfactory grade Ellsworth Airmen achieved for their sweat, efforts, emotions and exhaustion is one that lets the world know Ellsworth's Airmen have what it takes to put bombs on target and come back home. Senior Airman Kristi Leaman, 28th Security Forces controller, and ORI excellent performer, who is responsible for answering calls to domestic disturbances and dispatching patrols, said some of her duties as a dismounted security patrol during the inspection included securing and defending the Installation Control Center and her sector against hostilities. Airman Leaman said that even without an outstanding rating, she is happy with the overall experience she gained and feels confident in her team and leadership. "Great leadership counts 100 percent toward success," Airman Leaman said. "As Col. Taliaferro mentioned before in briefings, 'it's important to have a base knowledge of a range of fighting techniques.' We know we're not fighting in the same kind of combat as we did in Korea or Vietnam. We're in the desert fighting a different kind of warfare, but it's still important to hone these skills." Airman Leaman said the inspection and the preliminary exercises also nurtured closeness among her team and this bond helped her to stay alert and keep her morale up to maintain security and keep an eye on what needed attention while defending her sector. "It makes the job easier when you have great people working with you," Airman Leaman said. "As cliché as it sounds, they become your family. You train hard with them day in and day out. You eat, sleep and breathe with them. You get to know each other really well." The inspection, which Airman Leaman described as mentally, physically and emotionally challenging involved wearing equipment which adds between 20 to 30 pounds of body weight, sweating in mission oriented protective posture gear and enduring long hours. All of those small hardships combined make this bond among members of the team critical, she said. The exercises leading up to the inspection not only allowed for such a bond to be created, but also allowed her responses to tasks become as automatic as muscle-memory. "Practice makes you better," Airman Leaman said. "Everyone did a good job. We worked so hard together, and so well as a team. I feel more prepared to deploy after the inspection. It increased my awareness and background knowledge of different fighting positions, increased my confidence and has helped me to be well-rounded to secure and defend. You never know where a war is going to take you. It's important to learn all kinds of skills, tactics, capabilities and defense techniques." Airman Leaman also said that knowing her leadership knows what she and other Airmen are going through and supports them makes all the difference. She also said she is proud of the work she and her fellow Airmen have put in and is looking forward to celebrating the positive results of their collective efforts. "We did the best we could," Airman Leaman said. "It takes a lot of work to successfully gain combat skills, tactics and job knowledge, but we train hard. We train to win. We've come a long way and now it's time to relax and take a break. I'm ready to let loose. It's time to put the chemical gear away and bring out the party faces." Master Sgt. Russell Johnson, 28th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron assistant noncommissioned officer in charge, and Aircraft Systems Reliability superior team member, specializes in electronic warfare systems and assists flight chiefs with their duties. He supervises 70 Airmen and NCOs, helping them with their daily tasks. In the 2006 inspection, he had the responsibilities associated with an NCO ranked directly beneath the rank he held in the recent inspection, so he said he knew more or less what to expect. During the recent inspection, he was responsible for ensuring cohesion and coordination among five different specialties simultaneously being performed by 28 AMXS Airmen. "We spent countless days of numerous months testing and practicing on aircraft to ensure we worked well together and were able to achieve the flow of the show correctly and with ease," Sergeant Johnson said. "Over the last few months, we saw where we were heading and what we needed to do to get there. I saw a 180 degree turn-around with everyone working hard and coming together as a team. Without teamwork, we wouldn't have been successful. We had people performing five different specialties all at once, so we really had to pull together for it to work." Sergeant Johnson, who deployed twice to Southwest Asia, said the scenarios of the inspection and long days were not only challenging but also mentally, physically and emotionally draining. "The ORI is much like a real deployment because you work with the same people 12 hours a day for months," he said. "Spending that much time together encourages a feeling of brotherhood and sisterhood which by default improves teamwork. The intent of the level of stress the inspection imposes on you is to expose individual weaknesses as well as those within a team so that we can adapt, overcome, get better and be more prepared for real-life situations." Now that the ORI has been successfully completed, Sergeant Johnson said he feels as though a weight has been lifted from the base and that it is now time to look to the future and focus on the current tasks at hand. Sergeant Johnson's closing statements revolved around his indebtedness and gratitude to his Airmen. "I owe this victory to all of the people on my team. They put in their blood, sweat and tears throughout this entire process. I just oversaw the product. They deserve all of the praise, not me." Staff Sgt. Eli Barnett, 28 AMXS weapons loader, who went through a permanent change of station to Ellsworth July 19, 2010, experienced two of the base's preparatory exercises and two operational readiness inspections overseas conducted in Aviano Air Base, Italy, as well as Osan Air Base, Korea. He has also endured a six-month deployment. "Inspections provide Airmen with a base line for deployments by allowing them to develop teamwork skills, explore different experiences firsthand, practice responding to simulated casualties and learn how to endure long hours," Sergeant Barnett said. "The exercises leading up to the inspection provided a good simulation of a deployed situation and helped with getting into the mindset of what was to come." The preparation leading up to the inspection proved successful for Sergeant Barnett and his team who achieved superiority and were named "The Warrior Cell" by the IG team. Sergeant Barnett said he and his team were able to work well together, to generate six jets with no complications and meet all of their times. "Being new does make forming cohesion among the team difficult," Sergeant Barnett said. "It all came down to trusting my team. I really had to trust everyone I work with because without that trust, nothing would have gotten done and the mission would never have gotten accomplished." Sergeant Barnett said some teambuilding strengths were derived from sharing common experiences he and his team went through together throughout the exercises. This helped generate the kind of camaraderie needed among Sergeant Barnett and his fellow Airmen to succeed in a stressful situation, he said. By trusting everyone knew how to generate aircraft, perform the job effectively and make it out alive, Sergeant Barnett said he and his co-workers were able to fulfill the mission. "The inspection gave my teammates and I a good understanding of our limitations and abilities and what we need to do in order to overcome obstacles in real life," Sergeant Barnett said. "I learned what my team and I could do -- and it's a lot. We were able to keep our heads clear and overcome all the tasks set before us." Sergeant Barnett said he is now ready to enjoy the fun after demonstrating how well he and the rest of Ellsworth's Airmen successfully put bombs on target.