COMMENTARY: Readiness a way of life for U.S. Armed Forces Published Oct. 7, 2010 By Chief Master Sgt. Cindy George Command Chief, 419th Fighter Wing HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- I've often heard Airmen talking about the number of operational readiness exercises conducted in preparation for operational readiness inspections. Some people question if these OREs are really necessary. They believe if they do what they are supposed to do, according to prescribed guidelines or regulations, they are ready for anything and will have no problems come inspection time. My reply: OREs are both required and necessary, and reflect a fundamental state all Airmen should focus on - their state of readiness. As members of the greatest Air Force on the face of the earth, it is the duty of every Airman to maintain a high state of personal and professional readiness every day. Personal readiness comes in the form of ensuring your family and personal business are taken care of, just in case the call comes for you to deploy. This includes having a detailed family care plan in place to take care of family members while you're gone. Wills and powers of attorney should also be reviewed for accuracy and updated accordingly. Personal readiness also includes making arrangements with your financial institutions to make automatic loan or utility payments, or ensuring your spouse understands what bills need to be paid and by what day. Emotions run high during deployments, and maintaining a high degree of personal readiness can alleviate much anxiety when the call comes. Professional readiness represents the other side of the coin. This includes being proficient in your chosen profession, knowing your job, and knowing how and when to respond when faced with certain types of scenarios, including crisis situations. This is at the heart of why we train, maintain our proficiencies, practice constantly, and have operational exercises and inspections. The Air Force has spent a great amount of resources, both monetary and human resources, to train their workforce in a wide variety of professions in order to keep America and its allies safe from harm, and to deal with any threat that may pose itself from the air, space or cyberspace. This training goes hand-in-hand with the trust that Air Force leadership has placed in each and every Airman; trust that when the call comes, you will be ready, and the training you received will enable you to do the job you have been tasked to do. Granted, this is an enormous responsibility, but really nothing new; the basic concept has been with us since the days of the Minutemen. Minutemen were members of teams of select men from the American colonial militia during the American Revolutionary War. According to Wikipedia, they provided a "highly mobile, rapidly deployed force" that allowed the colonies to respond immediately to war threats, hence the name. Just like our country's early Minutemen, it is important to remember that today's Airmen answer the call in the form of a highly mobile force that can be called upon at anytime to deploy anywhere in the world. The key idea that can be taken from this analogy is the ever-present state of readiness that we must maintain as members of the U.S. military. The importance of readiness, both personal and professional, cannot be overstressed, and maintaining a high degree of readiness is as true for today's Airmen as it was for those colonial Minutemen so many years ago. That's why we train. That's why we have OREs. That's why we practice. Are you ready?