News

689th CCW performs well in CI, ORI

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  • By AMC Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  The 689th Combat Communications Wing at Robins received an overall grade of "complies with comments" on its CI, or compliance inspection, which ended Wednesday.

The 5th Combat Communications Group received overall grades of "satisfactory" on an operational readiness inspection and "complies with comments" on a compliance inspection conducted at the same time.

Col. Theresa Giorlando, 689th CCW commander, said the wing is grateful for the support it received from the base.

"Special thanks goes to the outstanding host base support from the 78th Air Base Wing," she said. "We couldn't have succeeded without them."


She is pleased with the CI outcome.

"Our total force warriors performed admirably," Giorlando said. "As expected, the men and women of the 689th Combat Communications Wing demonstrated their ability to provide relevant and effective combat capabilities to the joint fight. I am very proud of our Airmen's professionalism and dedication in simultaneously undergoing four different inspections as well as prosecuting combat and humanitarian operations in more than 34 locations around the world."

She said she also appreciates the family members for their continual support, dedication and sacrifice no matter the challenge.

The wing's reserve associate unit, the 55th Combat Communications Squadron, was also inspected and received an overall grade of "satisfactory" on its operational readiness inspection.

Headquarters Air Force Space Command Inspector General conducted the inspection Nov. 30 to Wednesday. These were the first inspections conducted on the units since their realignment under the command in October 2009.

ORIs are conducted to evaluate and measure the ability of units to perform their assigned missions, whether it is for wartime, contingency or force sustainment. CIs are conducted to assess areas mandated by law, as well as mission areas identified by senior leadership, as critical or important to assess and assure the health and performance of organizations.

Approximately 60 inspectors examined the wing and its subordinate units. Areas evaluated included operations, security forces, medical, finance, and civil engineering along with all other mission support activities.

The demanding 16-day evaluation of the wing's mission is a thorough test touching every facet of the wing's wide-reaching responsibilities of training, deploying and delivering expeditionary and specialized communications, air traffic control and landing systems for humanitarian relief operations and dominant combat operations, anytime, anywhere.

"ORIs and CIs are extremely challenging for any base. But when the inspected unit has such a diverse and unique mission and a reserve associate unit as the 689th does, it makes it more taxing," said Col. Scott Gilson, AFSPC Inspector General. "As with any inspection, we purposefully design scenarios to stress the wing to assess their ability to accomplish their mission, forcing them to operate and perform through a contested environment and to examine how they prioritize their resources to achieve mission success."

Today's inspections have a minimal amount of simulation which helps the inspectors identify areas where additional support and focus is needed, not only within the unit, but also higher headquarters. "We examine leadership and training at all organizational levels and look for shortfalls in existing resources, training, policies and guidance to ensure the wing is getting the support they need for maximum mission effectiveness," Gilson said, adding the wing demonstrated a strong performance across numerous areas.