TOP STORY >>What is an ORI?

By Maj. Nate Allerheiligen
314th Airlift Wing Director of Readiness

“What is an ORI?”

This is the first in a series of articles to inform the base populace and extended Combat Airlift community about our upcoming inspections.

Through these articles, we hope to educate Team Little Rock about the expectations, preparations, and execution of our Operational Readiness Inspections.

An Operational Readiness Inspection is the single most significant inspection that a base can receive. It is given to validate the readiness of the installation to conduct its mission during both peacetime and contingency operations.

All three major units at the Rock — the 314th Airlift Wing, the 189th Airlift Wing of the Arkansas Air National Guard, and the 463rd Airlift Group — will receive ORIs next April.

In a single 2-week period, the entire installation will receive its exam on how well we conduct business.

The requirements of the inspection will vary for each wing and group and will be based upon the mission of that unit, as well as the major command conducting the inspection. The 463 AG will receive its inspection from Air Mobility Command.

Their inspection will require them to prepare for deployment, and then actually deploy a portion of the unit to another location (aka “Base X”) where they will practice their ability to survive and operation in contingency conditions. The Air Education and Training Command units, the 314 AW and 463 AG, will receive their entire inspection here at the Rock.

Their inspection will consist of work center inspections and interviews to validate compliance with Air Force and AETC instructions, a simulated deployment and ATSO exercise, a base major accident response exercise to test our installation readiness, and several focused functional area inspections.

So what should you, as a member of Team Little Rock (including our community supporters and retirees), expect as we get prepared for our inspections?

First, the base will require several exercises to get ready. During the exercises, we’ll need to practice our procedures for protecting the base from attack or respond to simulated disasters.

That will cause some interruption of services, traffic problems, gate closures, and the like. Second, expect an increase in the amount of information we will be publishing about base activities.

We’ll use media, such as the Drop Zone, to announce upcoming exercises, readiness events, or other preparation activities to keep the community informed of what’s happening and how to get ready.

How should you prepare?

The number one way to prepare for the ORI is to keep doing the excellent work that has made Team Little Rock the “outstanding” organization it is already.

Ask tough questions about yourself and your programs such as: “What would an inspector say if they came right now?” “What do I already know I need to fix but haven’t done so?” “What can I do to make my program stronger?” “Who do I need to team up with in order to resolve this problem?”

Get ready Team Little Rock. April will be a whirl-wind and the time leading up to it will be marked with long hours, exhaustive repetitions of preparations, and a lot of management oversight.

The reward that awaits us is the opportunity for us to show AETC and the rest of the Air Force what we already know: Team Little Rock is “Outstanding!”

COMBAT AIRLIFT!