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AF/A3/5 discusses Smart Ops 21 with Pope

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Lisa Ferguson
  • 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  Pope is leading the way in Air Force Smart Operations 21, and Lt. Gen. Carrol "Howie" Chandler, Deputy Chief of Staff for Air, Space and Information Operations, Plans and Requirements, visited Pope Oct. 27, to see first-hand the strides the base has made to work smarter.

"We're empowering our people to make the necessary changes," General Chandler said. "Everybody needs to understand they have a stake in this organization."

During his visit, the general spoke with various Airmen of all ranks to get their views on Smart Ops.

"The consensus I saw is that Team Pope is really excited about Smart Ops," he said. General Chandler is also aware that the concept of leaning the Air Force is not as widespread across the Air Force as it is at Pope.

"There are places where we have a grassroots initiative, but not everyone understands the importance of Smart Ops," he said. "We need to continue to spread the word across all levels of the Air Force. Smart Ops is results-focused, not process-focused; its about increased combat capability. And it becomes more relevant and important as we shape our force and reduce our numbers by 40,000 over the next six years."

According to General Chandler, leadership needs to embrace the concept for Smart Ops to really take off.

"Wing commanders, group commanders and squadron commanders need to know this is a way to improve their lives and the lives of their Airmen," he said. "It all goes back to how leadership supports it, embraces it, models it, communicates it, and implements it."

General Chandler spent time visiting the 43rd Medical Group, the 43rd Operations Group and the 43rd Maintenance Group, where several rapid improvement events have taken place in efforts to streamline processes. He also had a working lunch with the "group change managers" to hear their thoughts on Pope's leaning efforts.

"When you bring together the natural skepticism of people with the bureaucracy of a new initiative, it's always going to take an adjustment period," he said. "But nobody can argue with working smarter."

The general stressed how important it is to build a culture of Smart Ops, starting with our newest Airmen.

"First Term Airmen Center and Airmen Leaderhip School students need to come out of those schools having an idea of what Smart Ops is, and they need to feel confident to voice their concerns," he said. "We need to work harder at pointing out the incentives - what we're saving in terms of time and money, and how we're reapplying those assets back to our people."

According to the general, the Air Force has come a long way with respect to Smart Ops, but needs to continue working hard to get where we need to be.

"We need to keep our arms wrapped around this to keep it going and make it work. We're already reaping benefits from Smart Ops initiatives across the Air Force and I'm convinced, that if we tackle this as a team effort, there's no limit to what we can do with Smart Ops."