730th AMS does excellent during an inspection

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Desiree Economides
  • 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --  The 730th Air Mobility Squadron scored an excellent during a Mission Capability and Compliance Inspection, Sept. 19-23, 2011, at Yokota Air Base, Japan.

The MCCI ensures units are maintaining their records and are able to complete their mission during peacetime and wartime operations.

"Every unit and installation is inspected to test its mission capabilities and validate compliance with Air Force Regulations," said Senior Master Sgt. Erica Shipp, Headquarters Air Mobility Command Inspector General force support services inspection manager. "Since the 730th is an AMC unit, we have the responsibility to ensure they follow regulations governing their functional areas."

During the inspection, the 730th AMS is graded on 15 major areas spanning across all three functional sections within the squadron: command and control, air freight processing and passenger services, and maintenance operations.

"No other squadron in the world has the maintenance capabilities we have here," said Maj. Scott Corman, 730th AMS maintenance operations officer. "We support the entire western Pacific Command, and as such, we are required to be qualified on C-17, C-5 and KC-135 airframes, so the inspectors ensure we are."

In preparation for their inspection, the 730th partnered with squadrons from within the 374th Airlift Wing to gain valuable training.

"We have a lot of new people, so we worked with the 374th Civil Engineering Squadron to ensure everyone had additional training to do their job properly in a wartime environment," said 1st Lt. Charles Coffman, 730th AMS assistant OIC air freight.

The squadron also looked internally, relying upon each Airmen to pull together as a team.

"We have a lot specialties throughout the squadron that are trained to do a specific job and to do it well, but I think with this inspection what we've shown is that it's our teamwork that pushes us to success," said Coffman.

With an overall score of excellent, the Airmen from the 730th showed that their teamwork paid off. Yet squadron members believe they would have benefitted regardless of the score.

"Inspections like this help us make our processes better," said Tech. Sgt. Blue Etheridge, 730th AMS Air Mobility Control Center acting superintendent. "We find best practices and identify any deficiencies to help us make our services faster and more beneficial to our customers."