Iron sharpens iron: be the best at training the best Published July 22, 2008 By Jonny Conover Senior Exercise Evaluator TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla., -- At Tinker Air Force Base, the 72nd Air Base Wing Plans and Programs Office has a charter to build an effective exercise program which will test and prepare our Airman to fight and win. Successful exercises are designed and evaluated by senior exercise evaluators in the Plans and Programs Office along with the Exercise Evaluation Team members from each unit. Just as a player on a winning sports team prepares for victory, a successful Airman must learn skills, and practice and execute those skills with a winning objective in mind. Just like team sports, the individual skills of each Airman have a direct effect on the outcome of the battle, and coaches are utilized to teach and evaluate these critical skills. We ensure all Airmen, both military and civilian, succeed in the workplace and on the field of battle by utilizing the most knowledgeable people as mentors, and have them pass-on the knowledge and wisdom they have gained through the trials and errors of their own experiences. In the Air Force, these knowledgeable people have come to be known as subject matter experts. Subject matter experts from around the installation serve as exercise evaluators on Tinker's EET. In every career field, military or civilian, there is a need to have a subject matter expert assigned as an EET member by their commander or director. Assigning the most knowledgeable personnel to the EET provides the greatest opportunity to improve and maintain the readiness status of unit personnel. As an individual team member of your unit, have a role and responsibility in improving your unit's readiness skills, processes and procedures. It is important for each Airman to become familiar with the EET member representing his or her unit, and utilize their knowledge as an invaluable resource for fielding questions, concerns and ideas. Through your inputs, you can assist the EET member in preparing scenarios for the next exercise. The exercise can be utilized as a tool to test your ideas, validate your concerns and ensure a learning experience to better hone the unit's skills. In the coming year, Team Tinker will be preparing for the next Operational Readiness Inspection by the Air Force Materiel Command Inspector General. The IG will assemble AFMC-level experts to evaluate Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center units on their state of readiness. The areas that will be inspected will include emergency management (tornado, sheltering, evacuation, etc.), Force Protection Condition, Operations Security, Information Security skills and techniques, and for the military and some civilian members, their deployed operations skills. Specific inspection criteria can be found in AFMCI 90-202, attachment 6. Tinker's EET members will assist to develop exercises over the next year to test unit personnel's skill-levels as they add scenarios that challenge Airmen with making the decisions that could save lives. They will look for improvement opportunities and will be asking for help to validate what they find and their recommendations for improvements. To ensure your unit's readiness and a successful ORI outcome, I would invite you to become a part of the ORI preparation team as an EET member or share your experience with your unit EET member as they help design/evaluate exercises in preparation for the coming ORI.