AFSO 21-It's nothing new

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. J. LaVoie
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  Maj. Gen. Marc Rogers, USAFE vice commander, visited RAF Lakenheath recently to discuss the importance and benefits of Air Force Smart Operations 21. 

In a briefing to the wing's Airmen, General Rogers stressed that AFSO 21 is something the Air Force and Airmen have been doing for a long time, the process is just a more organized way of doing it. 

"This is not a new principle," he said. "It's not a new way of thinking. It's common sense and we've always thought like this. We now have a better way to use these tools to become a stronger Air Force." 

General Rogers went on to give several examples of how AFSO 21 has been successful around the Air Force. One example that hit home with many Airmen was time sensitive targeting. 

In Desert Storm it took 76 minutes to hit a time sensitive target. According to General Rogers, today after applying technology, changing processes and having leaned it out, the Air Force can now hit time sensitive targets in eight minutes. 

"This is an example of LEAN, common sense and hard work being applied to war fighting," he said. 

But Liberty Airmen don't have to look as far as Desert Storm to find AFSO 21 success. At RAF Lakenheath, AFSO 21 has reduced the inprocessing time for new Airmen, as well as reduced the amount of time spent in newcomers' briefings. One of these projects included producing a 12-minute video that replaced a 90-minute newcomers' briefing. 
This brief is used for newcomers on eight of the most important departments within the hospital and saved 2,200 man hours. 

"It's clear the Air Force isn't just babbling about this, we're doing this," said General Rogers. "If you are looking around you and saying 'that's dumb,' send something up the chain so our headquarters staff can make the changes you need to do it better." 

General Rogers stressed that Excellence is an Air Force Core Value. AFSO 21 gives Air Force leaders powerful tools to improve effectiveness and raise our level of excellence.