Rest, recover, reset

Published July 19, 2012
By 2nd Lt. Nicole Ferrara
7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs

DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- As part of a leadership initiative termed "strategic reconstitution," the men and women of the 317th Airlift Group have been taking a step back from day-to-day operations to rest, recover and reset.

The purpose of the initiative, explained Col. Walter Ward, 317th Airlift Group commander, is "to say thank you for the laundry list of items the airmen have executed to perfection."

Since January, the 317th AG, which has been steadily replacing its fleet of legacy C-130H aircraft with new C-130J Super Hercules for more than two years, has doubled the number of J-models in its inventory.

During that same time frame, the group participated in and scored excellent during a Consolidated Unit Inspection, the first of its kind, which combined a unit compliance inspection, Aircrew Standardization and Evaluation, and Logistics Compliance Assessment Program into one assessment.

Amidst these feats, the 317th AG also surpassed the mark of 3,000 consecutive-days deployed, and the group continues to deploy in support of overseas contingency operations on a regular basis.

This six-month period of heightened operations tempo Ward refers to as "the surge," compelled 317th AG leaders to consider two choices: accept this new tempo as normal, or acknowledge that the current pace of operations simply wasn't sustainable, particularly given that September 2012 will yield one of the largest deployment packages ever sent out by the 317th AG.

Ward compared the surge and decision to institute a strategic reconstitution to football training camp.

"Professional athletes train hard, and then taper their training to get ready for the game," Ward said. "You must plan for rest as meticulously as for work, or you will fail."

With a small window of time in which to plan and implement the reconstitution, the responsibility for designing the program was handed to the 317th AG squadron commanders.

"The squadrons are the life-blood of this organization," Ward said.

The timing of the reconstitution, which began Memorial Day weekend and ended following Independence Day, was both symbolic and practical, said Lt. Col. Michael Brock, 40th AS director of operations, who served as the acting squadron commander for the 40th Airlift Squadron throughout the planning of the reconstitution.

Strategic reconstitution, a six-week program, was broken into three two-week-long phases: rest, recover and reset, and was approached with an "attack from the inside out" mentality.

During the first phase, the focus was on the individual airmen of the 317th AG. The flying schedule was reduced, allowing personnel to take liberal leave. The rest phase kicked off at the same time three area schools began their summer vacations, allowing airmen to spend more time with their families.

The second two weeks, referred to as the recovery phase, emphasized internal squadron events. Each of the squadrons in the 317th AG participated in an all-volunteer activity. The 39th Airlift Squadron did a project with Habitat for Humanity, while the 317th Operations Support Squadron helped the staff of Abilene's Big Brothers Big Sisters program move into their new building, and the 317th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron performed a mass clean-up at Lake Kirby.

Brock, who helped orchestrate the 40th AS participation in a volunteer event called West Texas Rehab, said, "I got a lot of people who said thank you for allowing them a period of time to do something like that. It was a worthwhile event. There's no way that you could walk away from the event not feeling good about it."

The final component of strategic reconstitution, the reset phase, focused intensely on the group-macro process of becoming a J-model organization. It provided 317th AG leaders an opportunity to work as a team and concentrate on finding smarter ways to do things by developing some best practices for utilizing their new C-130J fleet.

To symbolize this transition into a J-model organization, the 317th AG launched a 16-ship C-130J formation, and provided Dyess personnel a demonstration of capabilities by performing several heavy-equipment airdrops.

During this phase, squadron commanders made a point to host group-level events, including a family appreciation day to involve the families of 317th AG airmen in the reconstitution. The appreciation day offered a barbecue, resiliency classes including financial management and parenting classes, a pool party, and a flight for family members aboard a C-130J.

When asked about the end goal of strategic reconstitution, Brock said, "I would hope people get that, 'Hey, we do recognize you and we appreciate it,' and it extends to the families too. 'Hey, thanks, we get it, it's not easy, and ultimately, we're going to ask you to do it again. We know what you're sacrificing, and it's not unappreciated.'"

Ward echoed these sentiments.

"It is my hope that the airmen are firmly convinced that their leadership understands they have been pushed hard, we appreciate it and recognize that it is time to take the foot off the pedal so we'll be able to win for the long haul," he said.