AEF: It won't work if you're not ready

  • Published
  • By Maj. Gen. Timothy A. Peppe
  • Special assistant to the chief of staff for air and space expeditionary forces
You've heard it said many times: our Air Force is expeditionary. What does this mean? Quite simply, that the Air Force is organized and prepared for military operations abroad, and that everyone of us is a warrior and should be ready to go anywhere on the planet to fight our nation's battles.

While the great majority of our people are ready, we continue to see a large number of personnel reporting for duty in an area of responsibility without all prerequisites accomplished.

All of us -- officer, enlisted and civilian; active duty, Reserve and Guard -- must take ownership of our expeditionary culture. While the air and space expeditionary force concept ensures the Air Force is capable of providing rapidly responsive, need-specific, aerospace power, prepared to conduct military operations across the full spectrum of combat, it simply won't work if we aren't ready.

Being ready to deploy means a lot of things. I like to break them down into three areas -- being trained, staying healthy and taking care of your family. If you take care of these three, our Air Force will always win.

First are the obvious preparations, the ones that train you to fight. These include chemical warfare defense training, weapons qualification, self-aid and buddy care, a law of armed conflict review and anti-terrorism training, to name just a few. People in your local readiness unit will tell you what training you need for your particular deployment.

Readiness also means staying healthy. Are your immunization records complete? Are you exercising several times a week? Are you eating a nutritious and balanced diet? Are you limiting your tobacco and alcohol use? The Air Force mission is to defend the United States and protect its interests through aerospace power. We can't do that if you're not healthy.

Finally, there's the third category of preparations, the one that is sometimes less obvious but no less important -- taking care of your family. This means a lot of things. It means talking to your spouse and kids to make sure they are mentally prepared for you to leave. It also means making sure your will is up to date, that your family's identification cards are current, and that the DOD sticker on the family car is valid. It's up to you to make sure these, and all the other little details your family is counting on, are taken care of before you step on that plane.

While readiness is a personal responsibility, commanders, first sergeants and supervisors play a vital role. If you're one of these people, you should ask yourself some questions. Do your people know what AEF they are assigned to? Have you made sure they are trained and ready? Is their equipment ready? If you answered no to any of these questions, you need to get to work, and get to work now.

Lastly, the major command vice commanders are meeting on a bimonthly basis to review ongoing operational demands, efforts to increase the number of eligible airmen to deploy and rotation cycles. The Air Staff is aware and concerned about the increased operational tempo and is committed to keeping predictability and stability in the lives of our airmen and their families.

Our Air Force has always done extraordinary things, and our expeditionary approach to warfighting has only enhanced our ability to succeed. The AEF will surely carry us through this century, but only if we take it upon ourselves to make it work by being prepared.