Travis geared up for ORI

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Angela Martin
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  After more than a year of preparation, nearly 800 Airmen from the 60th Air Mobility Wing and 349th AMW at Travis are geared up for an operational readiness inspection scheduled for Sunday through Feb. 10.

The purpose of an ORI is to validate a wing's ability to mobilize, deploy, operate in a combat environment and redeploy. This provides senior leadership at the major command level with a snapshot of the base's ability to perform a wartime mission.

During Crisis Reach 13-02, Travis Airmen will form the 132nd Air Expeditionary Wing to simulate its ability to provide rapid, global mobility and sustainment for America's armed forces.

According to Dan Johnson, 60th AMW Plans chief of exercises and inspections, nearly every career field from Travis will be represented in the 132nd AEW.

"An ORI is an abbreviated time period, but Airmen will still be given tasks they would have to do in their normal job," he said. "Airmen will prove their abilities to perform those tasks in a deployed environment and be ready for other challenges, like responding to alarms and using gas masks."

After three major exercises and preparation efforts throughout the past year, base leadership is confident in the Airmen's abilities to excel during the inspection.

"Every challenged area has been focused on and turned into a strength," said Col. John Klein, 60th AMW vice commander.

Klein cited examples of Airmen owning the ORI by remaining 100 percent committed for nearly a year, taking care to get things right in everything from airflow plans for the deployment and redeployment, memorizing chemical warfare information, investing hours for right start deployment briefings and keeping positive attitudes through it all.

"There are about 800 Airmen heading out the door, but they're not the only ones owning the ORI," said Klein. "It's the thousands of Airmen staying behind. It takes an entire base effort to send them to war and to bring them home."

In addition to preparing for the ORI, Airmen throughout Travis have been preparing for unit specific inspections as part of the Consolidated Unit Inspection. Base leadership reminds Airmen that practicing resiliency during inspection season and demonstrating a positive attitude are of highest importance.

"Attitude is deeper than being cheerful and smiling," said Col. John Williams, 349th AMW vice commander. "Attitude comes from validating you can be successful in a deployed environment. Taking the scenarios seriously, using your gas mask like you really need it and taking care of each other will see us through."

Johnson further emphasized the importance of a positive attitude.

"If Airmen go into the ORI positively, they'll come out positively," he said. "There's pride in knowing you've done well. Just do the best you can and prove how good we are at Travis."