Dover AFB is full of ‘Angry Birds’

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Sean K. Tyler
  • 436th Logistics Readiness Squadron commander
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  Yep, that's right ... you read the title of this article correctly! Dover Air Force is home to a bunch of 'Angry Birds' that come together each day to 'Deliver' strategic airlift for America.

As commander of the 436th Logistics Readiness Squadron for the past two years, I've had the fortune to work with some of the finest men and women our country has to offer. These amazing Airmen have gone above and beyond, garnering accolades for outstanding achievements in support of our mission.

As I sit here contemplating my commentary for this week's edition, I can't help but think of an article I recently read detailing the efforts of 'Angry Birds.' Are you familiar with these birds? Well, if not, I bet your kids are! The Angry Birds are a puzzle video game developed by Finland-based Rovio Mobile. In the game, players use a slingshot to launch birds at pigs stationed on or within various structures, with the intent of destroying all the pigs on the playfield. As players advance through the game, new birds appear, some with special abilities that can be activated by the player.

The underlying concept of the game is to retrieve eggs that have been stolen by a bunch of evil green pigs. This is accomplished by utilizing the diverse abilities that many different birds bring to the table as you progress through stages. This concept can be applied to our team at Dover.

While we aren't battling evil green pigs, we are collectively using the skills and abilities of many different Airmen, from different backgrounds, and instilling the Air Force Core Values of Integrity first, Service before self, and Excellence in all we do to battle a common enemy and get the mission done to protect the freedoms enjoyed by all our citizens.

Using the logistics readiness squadron to apply the Angry Bird concept, you'll see that the unit is comprised of five different flocks of birds: materiel managers; Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants; distributors; vehicle maintainers and operations compliance. There are seven Air Force Specialty Codes that come together to make up the flocks. The nearly 400 Airmen that comprise these flocks bring diverse backgrounds to the table and come together as a whole in a way that is awesome to watch.

I'd like to highlight a few accomplishments from the past two years.

Our materiel managers rewarehoused an entire supply operation to pave the way for the C-5M Super Galaxy. The POL warriors brought Jet A fuel to our inventory, testing DoD's cost savings initiative to move away from JP-8, earning honors as Air Mobility Command Penton Award finalist. Our distributors continued to deliver amazing log plans, vehicle operations and supply support to Dover, to include vehicle operations in support of the AF Mortuary Affairs Office. And, the vehicle maintainers achieved record vehicle and equipment incommision rates despite 18 year high workload hours. Finally, the compliance team stood up a new Quality Assurance section to increase asset accountability. All of these accomplishments were vital to the unit's 'Excellent' rating on the 2011 AMC Logistics Compliance Assessment Program inspection!

The Airmen assigned to the LRS supported missions at home station and abroad. On average, 18 percent of the unit was continually deployed, many of which were operating 'outside the wire' in Iraq and Afghanistan driving convoy missions, delivering critical supplies and training and equipping the military and civil authorities. Wow ... talk about a flock of 'Angry Birds' working together to defeat the enemy!

As you can imagine, the sum of the whole is definitely greater than the individual parts. And, across Dover, we are so fortunate to have such a diverse team comprised of individuals from all over the United States, and for that matter, the World. Each of you has brought special individual ability to Dover which has produced and amazing overall team. You have embraced an increased workload as a result of the transition from Operation IRAQI FREEDOM to NEW DAWN and the shift to Afghanistan and ENDURING FREEDOM. While supporting the warfighter, you commissioned a new weapon system (C-5M), inherited a new channel mission, and fully embraced a more robust effort to honor our nations' fallen heroes.

All of these efforts were not lost upon Air Force leadership ... led to recognition as the AF runner up for the Commander-in-Chief Installation Excellence Award ... number two of 165 AF bases!

As we begin the summer, continue to 'Deliver' airlift at record levels, and step up preparations for the December 2011 Operational Readiness Inspection, please keep in mind that each one of you is so important to your unit's mission. Your abilities and teamwork at the unit level are absolutely critical to Team Dover's mission. And, perhaps most importantly, each one of you bring special abilities to the table which allows our Air Force to be the most respected air and space power in the world!