ORI preparation to kick off this month

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  • By 436th Airlift Wing
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  With the Operational Readiness Inspection less than a year away, Team Dover is taking the steps necessary to be prepared and to excel.

The ORI, which will take place in December at a deployed location, will be comprised of three phases: deployment, employment and redeployment.

The deployment phase focuses on processing the cargo and assembling the Airmen that will go downrange. The task is to ensure deployers are adequately prepared and equipped to conduct operations when they get to the deployed location.

The employment phase is the execution of combat operations; a demonstration of our ability to accomplish the combat mission in any environment. However, the mission is not over until everyone returns back to Dover AFB safely ... a big element of the inspection will be the third and final phase, the redeployment phase.

"The best way to prepare for an ORI is to exercise what we will be doing," said Maj. Nate Vogel, 436th Airlift Wing chief of plans and programs.

Dover will be taking a building block approach to training and throughout the year there will be numerous events that focus on each phase.

In the middle of February there will be an exercise testing our readiness to load and deploy cargo. In March, the first deployment exercise will take place. Throughout the summer we'll have exercises that hone our skills and in September we'll have a major exercise that pulls all three phases together.

"This approach gives us time to adequately assess our readiness, make adjustments to our process and be ready to excel when the ORI team gets here," said Col. Mark Camerer, 436th Airlift Wing Commander.

The ORI will be a joint operation between the 436th and the 512th Airlift Wing, and there will be major events held on Unit Training Assembly weekends for both wings.

"The 2008 ORI players set the standard of excellence," said Col. Randal Bright, 512th Airlift Wing Commander. "It is now our turn to live up to that standard of excellence."

"We are going to train the way we intend to fight," said Colonel Camerer. "We only get one chance to demonstrate our capability for the inspection team. "This is an opportunity for us to show why we are the best base in Air Mobility Command."