JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va -- Air Combat Command recently hosted its 2024 Fall Conference at JBLE, featuring the first-ever “Cutting the Red Tape Forum.”
During the forum, wings proposed solutions directly to ACC senior leaders, to address challenges their organizations are facing and, ultimately, to improve mission readiness and workplace efficiency.The term “red tape” can be defined as an excessive bureaucratic process that halts efficiency and progress. Recognizing the need for more efficient processes in some areas, ACC’s Plans, Programs, and Requirements Directorate, solicited inputs for red tape challenges that are affecting the daily operations and mission sets of its subordinate wings.
“Policies have been established for a reason, but oftentimes we need to step back and understand why we’re doing what we’re doing,” said Capt. Richard Armstrong, ACC Cyber Operations flight commander and forum facilitator. “What we want to achieve, how we want to tackle it, and last—and probably the most difficult— [how we] make the change stick, is what this forum is about.”
Proposed solutions ranged from updates to flightline vehicle training for aircrew members, to timelines for organizational change requests. The 4th Fighter Wing, from Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, suggested a reduction in the training time required for flightline driving.
“It takes a pilot an hour or less to refuel an F-15, but to drive on the flightline is a completely different technique,” said Col. Morgan Lohse, 4th Fighter Wing commander.
Flightline training for aircrew members can take anywhere from six to 10 hours depending on the base and the appropriate checklist items. Leadership approved delegating the authority down to an appointed officer, which allows the initial training to be an hour long, followed by 30-minute top-offs.
“This will streamline the flightline driving privilege process for our aircrew, who are already trained to operate on the flightline environment, saving our Airmen valuable time,” Lohse said.
The forum facilitated conversations between major command leaders and wing command teams, to clarify and accelerate practical changes. Out of the 39 challenges submitted, senior leaders approved 10 or delegated authority down to an appointed officer.
“Don’t stop working. We will continue to knock out unneeded bureaucracy,” said Gen. Ken Wilsbach, commander of Air Combat Command. “The overall goal is to free our folks up to do things that really matter, that we care about, and not to be wasteful.”
The Red Tape Forum allowed ACC staff to make impactful changes at the MAJCOM level and to advocate at the Headquarters of the Air Force level or the Department of Defense level, for the overall goal of improving operational efficiency and readiness for all ACC installations.