Bomb Wing rocks inspection

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Carolyn Viss
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Team Dyess scored an overall “outstanding” on the operational readiness inspection that ran from Feb. 28 through March 3.

The base theater was packed before the announcement was made Monday morning. Folks who had arrived only 25 minutes early needed to squeeze against the wall and stand. The air was thick with emotion. A power point presentation full of photos taken by the base visual information department welcomed the wing.

Chief Master Sgt. Paul Wheeler, 7th Bomb Wing command chief, called the room to attention for the commanders and inspector general teams in one loud bellow, and Colonel Michael Rollison, Air Combat Command IG team chief, then announced the outcome of the ORI, amid the noise of air horns and patriotic music.

“We were truly impressed,” Colonel Rollison said. “Keep up the great work. Speaking on behalf of the IG team, I say we would be proud to go to war and fight alongside the 7th Bomb Wing any time, any place.”

Nearly 150 of the 1,200-plus individuals who participated in the ORI were noted as being Team Dyess’ “superior performers” along with about 20 team units.

“This validates what we knew already -- that we’re the best,” said Col. James Hammes, 7th BW IG. “I told you we’d score an ‘outstanding.’”

Dyess is the first base in the ACC to score an outstanding since January 2002, and the first to score at or above an excellent in the last 20 months.

“Scoring a ‘satisfactory’ rating would mean that you have met the demanding standards of an inspection,” Colonel Rollison said. “But you went over and above and proved that you do world-class work.”

Colonel Garrett Harencak, 7th BW commander, concurred.

“We already knew we were the best,” he said. “We needed to validate it with an ‘outstanding,’ and we did.”

His opening speech to the wing was inspirationally enthusiastic.

“Are you feeling pretty ‘outstanding’?” he asked, evoking a torrent of cheers, whistles, hoots, stomps and horns from the wing. “This was a very difficult, very fair inspection, and you were professional and dedicated.”

Out of 293 graded areas, 70 percent of the units on base scored an excellent or outstanding, he said.

“Our honor is to serve the Air Force and our nation,” Colonel Harencak said. “Our privilege is to do it with all of you.”

“This is a tremendous accomplishment,” he continued, and said many people who stay in the Air Force for 30 years may never see an overall “outstanding score again.

He said the ACC IG team almost got tired of using the term “outstanding” to describe Team Dyess.

“After awhile ... they just didn’t know how to keep describing us,” Colonel Harencak said. “This was the highest number of times they’ve ever said, ‘best seen to date’ about units on any base. And they didn’t just mean ‘best to date,’ they meant, they’ll never see another unit like this one!”

He said this is a historic accomplishment for Dyess, and the whole world should know about it.

“This is truly, truly an honor for all of you,” he said. “But we didn’t do this just to impress the IG team. Our mission every day is to hunt down and destroy America’s enemies, and no one else does it better!

“Scoring a ‘satisfactory’ would mean we have lived up to the standard; scoring an ‘outstanding’ means that we have far exceeded the standard in every aspect of this inspection,” he said.

Colonel Harencak said this inspection was very difficult, and it was made even more difficult by the record (90-plus degree) heat.

“Our guys did outstanding this week, even in full combat gear,” he said.

His parting words were more than appropriate to sum up the day: “God bless you, and have a great Air Force day!”

Colonel Robert McCormick, 7th Bomb wing vice commander, said this is not just a great accomplishment for Dyess; it’s also a great accomplishment for those individuals who were named outstanding performers.

“This will be an extremely prestigious thing to add to an EPR or OPR,” he said. “For Air Force-level awards, this will set them apart from everyone else.”

“Thank you for your hospitality and support these last 10 days,” Colonel Rollison said in closing. “Congratulations on your outstanding ORI, and here’s two thumbs up!”