HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah – The 419th Fighter Wing cut the ribbon on a new deployment readiness cell intended to reduce the time and effort required of Airmen to transition to and from deployed locations.
The cell will consolidate offices into one location and allow for live tracking of all wing deployers before, during, and after deployment. Once the cell is running at full capacity, a deploying Airman will be able to come to a single location and complete all readiness items in one appointment. The cell also has an attached training room where Airmen can complete computer-based training required for their deployments.
Maj. Kregg Smith, operations officer in the 419th Logistics Readiness Squadron, said he expects significant time savings for Airmen under the new process.
“The more we tailor in and vector in everything to a one-stop location for deployment readiness, the easier it’s going to be for all of us to deploy,” Smith said. “We’ve typically set up five days for out-processing a person on orders, but I foresee this as necessitating one out-processing day.”
Col. Matthew Fritz, commander of the 419th FW, attended the opening and expressed his appreciation for the efforts involved in standing up the new cell.
“It’s one thing to put on the uniform and go serve, but it’s another thing to put on the uniform and volunteer to deploy down range. I want to make sure that the folks that are raising their hands to deploy are completely taken care of,” Fritz said. “We need to make sure we’re making this process as smooth as possible for them. This is going to be a great thing for the wing to streamline the process.”