CUI: Are you ready?

  • Published
  • By Mark Wyatt
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  A team of inspectors from Air Force Materiel Command will arrive here June 5 to complete a Consolidated Unit Inspection, or CUI. The CUI will look at emergency management readiness, Air Force Instruction compliance and the ability of Hanscom deployers' ability to survive and operate.

This "consolidated" inspection combines what used to be known as the Operational Readiness Inspection and the Unit Compliance Inspection and involves the same evaluation items critical to the health of the Air Force.

The readiness inspection portion of the CUI will be conducted June 6 and 7, while the Compliance Inspection portion will be June 10 through 14.

"I am excited for the IG to come and inspect Team Hanscom," said Lt. Col. Romero Reid, 66th Air Base Group deputy commander. "I look forward to showing the IG what we do."

For the readiness inspection, inspectors will assess Hanscom's ATSO proficiency by having a small cadre of 20 Airmen, known as Hanscom's "A-Team," demonstrate Self Aid and Buddy Care, Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense and weapons familiarization.

"All members of the A Team are top notch, elite, best of the best," said Capt. Heidi Hernandez, ATSO project officer. "Their attitudes and knowledge have made this process easy for me and have garnered various compliments from EET [Exercise Evaluation Team] and Wing leadership as 'the best ATSO team seen to date.'"

Other portions of the Readiness Inspection include an emergency management event on base, which will test first responders' ability to manage a major accident. An active shooter scenario is likely and will inspect personnel's knowledge in averting or minimizing the threat. During the inspection, there will be no phase one deployment line.

Preparation for a successful inspection requires personnel to do their homework and remain current with directives and, most importantly, have a positive attitude, base officials said.

Personal responsibility also involves appearance, accountability and integrity.

Compliance inspectors will focus on specific areas identified by the AFMC IG from across the installation. Inspectors will generally inspect only during duty hours.

For the Compliance Inspection portion of the inspection, a strong unit self-assessment program is critical to the overall success. However, compliance is more than just running checklists and entering data into the Management Internal Control Toolset database.

"Checklists are merely tools and they don't absolve you of knowing the requirements contained within the AFI [Air Force Instruction]," said Col. Lester A. Weilacher, 66th Air Base Group commander.

Base personnel are encouraged to instill a sense of ownership down to the lowest level. Being accurate is more than being quick and every one should accept responsibility for the outcome, according to Weilacher.

It's also important to share information throughout the chain of command.

Other advice offered by base leaders: don't take the "it's not my job" mentality and personnel should avoid answering a question if they don't know the answer; research it first and don't be confrontational.

The Hanscom Conference Center will be the designated work center for the 90 IG inspectors and will be off limits to base personnel.

The IG team is already conducting a virtual inspection based on documentation that has been sent electronically or what they find in MICT.

Results are scheduled to be revealed at an executive outbrief, not a large, theatre-style outbrief.

Officials emphasize that successful inspections are the result of daily compliance, not just before inspectors arrive. It is also the result of personnel understanding their responsibilities, having an effective training program and establishing a process and continuity for all programs.