TOP STORY >>What’s so quick about Quick Fire?

By Capt. Mark Sargent
314th Logistics Readiness Squadron

The men and women of Little Rock Air Force Base are constantly deploying around the world in support of the Global War on Terrorism whether it is by driving convoys, flying missions or performing mitigation.

Nonetheless, despite the uniqueness of the jobs each of them is required to perform, one of the things all of them have in common is the basic requirements needed to deploy. For most Airmen, the final stop before farewells and airplane food is the Quickfire deployment processing line.

Through air expeditionary force cycles, rotations of airlift groups and various preparations for the operational readiness inspection, almost every Airman on Little Rock has or will go through “the line” at one time or another, although many deployers won’t see the purpose beyond another box to be checked.

The average deployer has a few weeks of preparation before deployment followed by a few days of rushing to complete the last final requirements before leaving. The Quickfire line serves to speed the completion of the deployment checklist provided by the personnel readiness unit, fulfilling the requirement to get orders and tickets to proceed down range.

Therefore, like most of the Air Force, Little Rock processes “by exception” – meaning the ideal plan is for each deployer to have their items checked so they may proceed to the next station without interruptions or delays. However, it’s rare to have “no discrepancies” on the line, so the Quickfire line offers the opportunity to fix anything that would keep the deployer from going.

Quickfire has saved us numerous man hours and allows us to focus more on the deployer,”said Staff Sgt. Rena Odom, a 314th Logistics Readiness Squadron unit deployment manager.

So, how quick is it? The members of the 314th Mission Support Squadron and 314th LRS who run the line and the deployment process strive to make it as quick as possible. A line that processes by exception though, slows itself down with every exception. So, every deployer that needs support beyond just having the box checked requires more time and considering exceptions are not a rare occurrence that ends up taking an ample amount of time in the deployment process as a whole.

There are also more than forty checklist items to review before deployment, stacked against pages of reporting instructions that change depending on where you’re going and how you’re getting there adding to the complexity of the all ready chaotic deployment process.

Yet, Quickfire strives to consolidate some of these checklist items by providing experts from legal, finance, Airman and Family Readiness and other base agencies to remedy most of the glitches that can appear.

So, how can you make it faster? Individual readiness is vital to faster processing, so by keeping your personnel readiness folder up to date will have half your checklist done before you start.

Knowledge is the next most important tool in the box. Knowing your unit line number (the five character code that ties you to your deployment), your final destination (the city or base, not the country) and any transient or training locations before you get there will speed you through the process and will expedite solutions to any issues.

Your UDM can give you all of that information and can assist you with all the other items on the checklist.

In addition, your UDM will also advise you of when you’re required show time is at your unit. Woody Allen is quoted as saying, “eighty percent of success is just showing up.” The same is true for our line, you can’t process if you’re not there.
Unfortunately, Quickfire isn’t as quick as we all would like, so we ask for your patience, attention and understanding, which not only help speed the process along, but can also help make that time go by easier.

Sergeant Odom probably sums it up best by saying; “The Quickfire line provides a one-stop shop. This allows more family time for the individual which is the most important thing before each deployment and more time for the UDM to ensure everything is correct.”