ACC IG rates Dyess “excellent”

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Charles V. Rivezzo
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The 7th Bomb Wing was awarded an overall grade of "Excellent" Jan. 18 following the command's first Consolidated Unit Inspection.

Administered by the Headquarters Air Combat Command Inspector General, the comprehensive evaluation began Jan. 13 and concluded Jan. 18.

"I would like to tip my hat to the 7th Bomb Wing," said Col. Douglas Miller, ACC IG chief. "I was very impressed throughout the inspection with the culture and the pro-activeness of your leaders. But I was even more impressed with the line-Airmen and civilians. During this inspection, we noticed a tremendous sense of pride and focus to achieve mission success throughout the entire wing."

For the first time in Air Combat Command, an inspection combined numerous evaluations and assessments from multiple agencies to accomplish a comprehensive and consolidated look at a wing's compliance with their peacetime and wartime mission directives.

During the inspection, more than 160 inspectors closely examined how well the 7th BW's programs, plans and procedures follow Air Force Instructions and Department of Defense Directives. The inspection results are graded on the Air Force five-tier grading scale: Outstanding, Excellent, Satisfactory, Marginal and Unsatisfactory.

"My inspectors made numerous comments about how motivated, professional and just plain fired up this wing truly is," Miller added. "This is one of the best inspections I've seen in a long time."

Furthermore, during the IG's out-brief, 157 Airmen were recognized as superior performers, as well as 26 superior-performer teams.

"This was a very professional inspection," said Col. Glen VanHerck, 7th Bomb Wing commander. "I've been through several inspections in my time and none were more professional than this one. For the inspectors to say that this is the best they have ever seen says a lot about the work you did and the leadership you put forth."

"I'm very proud of all of you," said Chief Master Sgt. Kenneth Lindsey, 7th Bomb Wing command chief. "When you're in the day-to-day operations grind, at times it is hard to establish where you stand amongst other wings. When Air Force inspectors who sample dozens of installations a year tell you what an outstanding job you're doing, it's very humbling."

At the conclusion of the out-brief, VanHerck noted this was the validation of the wing's on-going journey to, "live in a culture of compliance."

"Since July 3rd, we have changed a lot of culture and this is just evidence of us doing that," he said. "But to really change the culture, it's going to take a while. However, we're on that journey and you're making the difference. This is just a validation that we're going in the right direction."