848th SCMG says goodbye to commander

Published April 16, 2009
By Howdy Stout
Tinker Public Affairs

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla., -- Col. Phillip Frederick, commander of the 848th Supply Chain Management Group, left Tinker this week for a six-month deployment to Iraq as the deputy group commander of the 732nd Air Expeditionary Group before taking an assignment at the Global Logistics Support Center at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

The group is responsible for overseeing the 1,500 Airmen deployed to Iraq on various missions, including combat communications, police training and convoy escort. Colonel Frederick will spend much of his time overseeing the well-being of the deployed Airmen.

"It's the concept of Airmen looking after Airmen," Colonel Frederick said. "Our job is to make sure those guys are taken care of."

Colonel Frederick recently returned from a six-week combat course hosted by the U.S. Army at Fort Hood, Texas, in preparation for his new job. The 150-person course is designed to ready Airmen for deployment to the potentially-hostile environment of a forward operating base.

"It was a good experience," he said. "It was interesting to see how they do things. They do really 'no kidding' stuff."

With half of his class slated for deployment to Iraq and falling under the command of the 732nd, Colonel Frederick may meet some former combat classmates.

"My main job will be going around seeing the troops," he said. "It's going to be interesting because we have guys spread all over Iraq."

Following his Iraqi interlude, Colonel Frederick will be back in the logistics business as a deputy to Maj. Gen. Gary McCoy.

"The guy I'm replacing is a friend of mine and I've dealt with him in this job," Colonel Frederick said. "It should be a good fit."

Part of his duties at the GLSC will be managing the policy direction of the new organization, which was stood up last year as part of sweeping changes made to the Air Force's logistics system. The Air Force's three air logistics centers and various other logistics organizations now fall under the GLSC, grouping the service's logistics under a single, unified authority.

"It's a much more efficient system," said Colonel Frederick. "You now have one boss who owns the supply chain."

Part of the GLSC's work will be to standardize processes to reduce inefficiency.

Colonel Frederick is familiar with reorganizing logistical methods, having overseen several such changes at Tinker since arriving at the base in June 2006. These base-level reorganizations culminated in the implementation of a 1,000-day plan to revamp systems, training and tooling to streamline the logistical supply chain.

"We're doing a pretty good job," he said. "I think it's the right vision for the future."

A long-time "supply guy," Colonel Frederick was also selected last year to oversee the reorganization of the management of parts essential to the Air Force's Nuclear Weapons Resource Management.

Following the "misplacement" of several nuclear-tipped cruise missiles several years ago, the resulting investigation recommended changes to how important nuclear weapon components were monitored and maintained. Rather than parts being stored in Defense Logistics Agency warehouses, everything related to nuclear weapons would remain under direct Air Force control in Positive Inventory Control facilities.

"As one of the old and only supply guys around, I was tapped to go and run that project," he explained. Work began last July on a dedicated nuclear weapons parts storehouse at Hill AFB, Utah. Parts began to flow into the facility in January with the move expected to be completed in another six months.

Aside from moving the parts to direct Air Force control, each part is being inspected and placed in new containers with new labels as necessary. Each part is also being electronically catalogued and inventoried as it arrives at the new facility.

Using the new control system, parts sent to another base for installation will be visually inspected before leaving the warehouse, electronically tracked until it arrives at its destination, and then visually inspected again on arrival.