ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Air Force Reserve Command’s Force Generation Center implemented significant changes recently to ensure transparency, increase efficiency, improve communication and directly benefit Reserve Citizen Airmen across the command.
The FGC, located at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is entrusted by the commander of Air Force Reserve Command to synchronize the employment and provide visibility of combat-ready forces within the command. It is the single point of fusion for AFRC, trusted to align customer requirements with Reserve capabilities and recognized as the authoritative source for utilization and disposition of Reserve forces.
There are four divisions within the FGC: Operations, Forces, Systems, and Security Cooperation and Exercises. All divisions contribute directly to the mission of providing visibility and synchronizing employment and all have recently participated in separate Continuous Process Improvement events that have led to positive changes in the way the center operates.
The Security Cooperation and Exercises Division held an internal CPI event in April to generate a new Deliberate Planning Exercise Process.
“In the past, AFRC participants in combatant command or major command exercises were either selected through FGC subject matter experts, requested by the gaining command or identified in other ways,” said Lt. Col. Wayne Johnson, chief of the Security Cooperation and Exercises Division. “The lack of a formal request process for exercises presented challenges in miscommunication, missed training opportunities for specific units and funding issues.”
The new DPEX now starts the planning for exercises 18 to 24 months prior to execution. DPEX prioritizes units preparing for their Reserve component period as well as units with training deficiencies to boost their overall readiness.
Additionally, necessary mission essential tasks are identified by the functional area managers and the units to ensure the right unit gets the right readiness training at the right time. The updated process provides for transparency and increased communication between the combatant or major command, the AFRC functional area manager, the FGC subject matter expert, the numbered Air Force, and wing and group commanders.
DPEX also ensures funding is projected 12 to 18 months prior to the exercise execution to assist with proper budget forecasting and to prevent shortfalls as much as possible.
As Reserve Citizen Airmen become eligible for deployment after obtaining the right training at the right time, the FGC Forces Division ensures they are mobilized more efficiently and effectively, with the benefits they have earned, thanks to a recent CPI event that changes the way Airmen are mobilized.
In March 2018, representatives from Headquarters Air Force, the Air National Guard and AFRC met in Washington, D.C., to conduct a CPI event to modernize the mobilization process. The event resulted in a test to the reformed mobilization process in August 2018, and was further developed and tailored.
Eventually this new process was approved as the Agile Mobilization Process by the assistant secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs in June of this year.
AMP replaces a lengthy and bureaucratic legacy mobilization process used to mobilize Reserve Citizen Airmen in accordance with Department of Defense Instruction 1235.12 and Congressional guidance.
“AMP creates a more agile staffing process by reducing the number of steps required to mobilize a Reserve Airman and alleviates the lengthy approval process for individual name swaps and other administrative changes,” said Col. Laura Radley, chief of the FGC Forces Division.
The new process empowers squadron commanders to make the decisions necessary to meet the combatant commander’s requirements while taking care of their Airmen.
The reconfigured AMP contains key milestones that ensure Airmen are receiving clear communication regarding upcoming mobilization, informs leadership at all levels of changes and guarantees a process where Airmen are provided orders in hand no later than 180 days prior to the mobilization employment period start date.
A follow-up CPI event was held at the FGC in September to address how to accelerate the mobilization process and get deploying Airmen their orders as quickly as possible, given current delays in Global Force Management Allocation Plan approval.
This CPI event focused on improving internal FGC/AFRC/unit communication, improving FGC processes to increase efficiency and orders visibility while providing feedback to leadership at all levels. Included in this CPI were the other two FGC divisions, Operations and Systems.
The Operations Division focused on targeted engagement with deploying units as well as the HQ AFRC Directorate of Manpower, Personnel and Services to ensure all transportation needs were met to and from the area of responsibility, focusing on rapidly resolving any potential snags in the transportation pipeline.
The Systems Division tailored its analytical processes to provide commanders, up and down the chain, with real-time, precise data to help them make decisions on filling deployment requirements while providing deployer visibility throughout the mobilization process, from the time they enter their Reserve component period until they return home to their families.
“The Force Generation Center works diligently with the Air Force Reserve Command staff, the numbered Air Forces and our wings to ensure Airmen within AFRC have the best training opportunities and are ready for mobilization,” said Brig. Gen. Stacey Scarisbrick, FGC commander. “The FGC strives to build upon its past successes with a laser focus on constant improvement to ensure AFRC’s Airmen are ready for the fight – anytime, anywhere.”
For people who need help with mobilization or exercises issues, the FGC is open 24/7 through the FGC Battle Watch – DSN 497-1234. #ReserveReform
(Fox is assigned to the FGC’s Security Cooperation and Exercises Division.)