JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- The 149th Fighter Wing Inspector General’s office at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland was awarded the 2018 Air Reserve Component Commander’s Inspection Program of the year following the Air Force Major Command Inspection.
Though awarded for Fiscal Year 2018, the work done was completed more than four years ago by a team of five senior noncommissioned and commissioned officers.
"We've been striving for this, literally, since our 2014 CAPSTONE Inspection,” said Lt. Col. Edward Stamper, the Inspector General of the 149th FW. “At that point, we were just hoping not to fail.”
They did not fail. In fact, Stamper and his IG teammates were the highest scoring wing in Air Education and Training Command and one of the first guard units to go through the inspection.
After their 2014 success, Stamper and then 2nd Lt. Jonathan Sweat came up with a plan based on the inspection team's feedback to earn an even higher score for 2018.
“We jokingly called the proposal ‘From Highly-Effective to Outstanding in 10 Easy Steps’," Stamper said.
Over the next four years, Stamper and Sweat would use their new proposal to build a team of IG professionals.
"If there is one thing we did right it's that we adapted the Air Force inspection system to the ANG and specifically to the 149th FW’s reality and needs," Stamper said.
The 149th IG team was able to use their inspection program in a way that focused on the mission as opposed to just getting ready for a review.
"Inspection Readiness is Mission Readiness is Inspection Readiness – that became our inspection philosophy," Stamper said. "All of our leadership believed we could use the Air Force inspection system to our benefit."
With this mindset, the team was able to get the entire unit to build a program that met the mark on all four of the major graded areas of the inspection: managing resources, leading people, improving the unit and executing the mission.
"We actually used the program as it was designed as opposed to just filing a square,” Stamper said.