Managing chaos with training, trust, teamwork

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Will Clark
  • 571st Global Mobility Squadron commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  I recently had the opportunity to attend a large joint exercise with the majority of my squadron and other members from our group. The start of the exercise was a large airdrop insertion of more than 1,200 U.S. Army paratroopers from 21 Air Force aircraft. It was a complex scenario that involved a large number of Army and Air Force personnel from 11 bases across the U.S.

My unit consisted of about 70 Airmen from 15 different Air Force specialty codes, ranging from aircraft maintenance and aerial port to communications specialists. Our mission for this exercise was to conduct command and control, through flight maintenance, and aerial port functions at a civilian staging base close to the airdrop location.

Normally, our job is to work a maximum of two aircraft on the ground at a time. However, on the night of the airdrop, things quickly went beyond normal. Due to an airdrop accident with one of the jumpers, we were notified 19 aircraft were quickly descending on our location to offload their paratroopers. Within a short time we had to park 19 aircraft, download and escort 600 paratroopers, refuel eight aircraft, work accountability for all U.S. Army personnel and launch many of the aircraft.

After a few hectic hours we were able to get things back to normal and I started thinking about why were we able to successfully and safely handle a more than 900 percent increase in aircraft from normal operations. I think there were three key reasons: training, trust and teamwork.

First, we trained for this eventuality. We knew there was a possibility of the airdrop being aborted so we ran several practice drills. We covered key responsibilities and even did a dry run on the airfield with all personnel. Because of the accident it was much more chaotic than expected but the practice paid off by allowing us to have a plan to deviate from. While classroom training, career development courses and reading Air Force Instructions and Technical Orders are important, practicing your trade is also critical.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, "An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching." The multiple readiness exercises and other training events to prepare for the upcoming operational readiness inspection and logistics compliance assessment program may seem like overkill, but they will pay great dividends during the inspections.

Secondly, empower your people to do their job and trust they will accomplish it. Our Air Force is made up of talented and motivated individuals, with the right training they will do amazing things.

That night, everyone trusted each other to do their part. The officers and senior NCOs gave direction but allowed the NCOs the ability to run their teams so the Airmen could get the job done. While certain things require inspections, we normally don't have the time or manpower to go back and double check every single item.

Finally, during an exercise or mission, it is important to have at least a general understanding of what the other specialties working with you are doing. When things get busy it helps to know how you fit in with what the other folks are doing around you. During training, build teamwork by making time to learn a little bit about what the person next to you is doing. The common bonds you build will pay dividends.

Overall, I believe we succeeded because we had elements of each of these three areas - training, trust and teamwork. It wasn't perfect, but training, trust and teamwork allowed us to accomplish the mission in a safe, effective manner. We will take the lessons learned and make it better for next time.