Dorm Lockouts: Leadership looks to fix downward trend

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Zachary Cacicia
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  Whether it is a slip of the mind or obvious negligence, Airmen at Team Dover have occasionally locked themselves out of their dormitory rooms. But in 2014 there has been a drastic increase in dorm lockouts on Dover AFB and steps are in place to curb the unacceptable trend.

The 436th Civil Engineer Squadron's Airmen dormitory leaders, along with assistance from Ken Jones, 436th Mission Support Group Air Force Smart Ops for the 21st Century (AFSO21) program manager, are attempting to find a solution to fix the ongoing trend.

"The majority of the lockouts are from residents leaving their cards in their rooms," said Master Sgt. Leslie Barnes, 436th Civil Engineer Squadron dormitory superintendent. "We consider these to be preventable lockouts."

Currently, residents of the dorms use their Common Access Cards (CAC) which is programmed to unlock their rooms. The key and lock mechanism is very similar to that of many hotels' key card lock system.

Lockouts due to lock, door or key malfunctions are not considered the resident's fault.

Data collected over the past two years has shown an increase in the frequency of lockouts. According to this data, from January to August of 2014, the lockouts have increased by 68 percent, as compared to January to August of previous year. Because of this trend, MSG leadership requested a fix.

A coordinated effort between AFSO21 and the dormitory leaders formed a rapid improvement event. This initiative brought together the individuals who are affected by the dorm lockouts, a CES Senior NCO, a squadron first sergeant, a supervisor, an Airman dormitory leader and a resident Airman.

The team members included Senior Master Sgt. John Becquer, 436th CES, Master Sgt. Breah Misho, 436th Operations Support Squadron first sergeant, Tech. Sgt. Tiffany Reed, 436th Aerospace Medicine Squadron NCO in charge of deployment medicine, Staff Sgt. Nicholas Scott, 436th CES Airman dormitory leader, and Airman 1st Class Kody Hatch, 436th Maintenance Squadron fuels apprentice.

"The rapid improvement event part of this process includes determining the root cause, why we are having this issue and some countermeasures," said Jones. "As the facilitator, it's my job to make sure the AFSO21 tools are in place for the brainstorming, the topics, any of the root cause analyses and the counter measure discussions."

The team members spent several hours, spread out over a few days to analyze, discuss, and come up with solutions to the lockout issue. Many possible solutions were proposed and discussed, such as giving first sergeants more responsibilities, or some sort of automated kiosk, or even biometric finger print door locks.

Nothing yet has been set into stone on what changes, if any, will be coming to Dover AFB's dorm, but resident Airmen can expect a policy change.