UDMs ensure Airmen are mission ready

  • Published
  • By Airman Anthony Jennings
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Mission readiness is a focus of today's Air Force that can be easily defined by the time-honored Boy Scout motto - "Be prepared." 

That's where a unit deployment manager comes in handy. 

Ensuring Airmen maintain mission readiness is absolutely vital to warfighting capabilities. A unit's ability to deploy rapidly and efficiently underpins the Air and Space Expeditionary Force's capabilities. Unit deployment managers bear the brunt of making sure Airmen are ready to deploy. 

"As Airmen, we have to be in a constant state of readiness," said Master Sgt. Sheri Masini, 96th Mission Support Squadron unit deployment manager. "You can't do that if you don't have training to handle the situations you'll face in a deployed environment." 

UDMs at Eglin lead efforts to construct and maintain unit type codes, a five-digit, alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies each unit or Air Force Specialty Code. UTCs are used to identify who or what is needed for a particular tasking. UDMs also monitor the readiness of each unit member and interface with the personnel readiness function. 

Ideally there should be one UDM per every 100 personnel. Keeping track of so many people would be a near impossible task without a computer database. UDMs use the data to ensure people are scheduled for individual training in the areas of weapons proficiency, self-aid buddy care and nuclear, biological and chemical warfare defense training. 

With today's operations tempo, many Airmen find it difficult to pull away from their duties to complete the necessary training and immunizations before they deploy. 

"We have to be flexible with scheduling conflicts and remember there is a human being attached to the numbers and acronyms," said Tech. Sgt. Jimmy Wilson, 96th Services Squadron unit deployment manager. 

Besides training, a UDM evaluates a member's health through preventative health assessment and individual medical readiness database to track immunizations and medical readiness, better known as Preventative Health Assessment/Individual Medical Readiness, provided by Force Health Management at Eglin hospital. 

"We have to make sure the members are mentally, physically and spiritually ready to go," said Sergeant Masini. "You don't want to deploy someone who isn't sufficiently trained or physically prepared to fulfill their duties." 

A reporting tool for the AEF shows who is ready to deploy and fulfill a mission requirement. ART allows units the ability to report UTC readiness information. It provides one central location for data on the status of readiness. 

"Once a tasking comes down, the real work begins," Sergeant Masini said. 

First they have to verify the tasking is correct and the person is deployable. Once that process is complete, then they begin the checklist. Law of Armed Conflict, Combat Arms Training and Marksmanship, SABC and weapons firing must be completed 90 days prior to deployment, and much more. 

Along with training, Airmen must have the proper uniforms and equipment, update their will and power of attorney if necessary, and fills out an Isolated Personnel Report prior to departure. 

"It seems like a lot, but we make sure they know what they need every step of the way," Sergeant Masini said. "Once Airmen have been briefed on where they are going and what is required of them, they seem to have less anxiety about deploying."
It's important to note, while UDMs work hard to make sure Airmen are prepared to go, it's up to the each individual to keep their training current. 

"When it's all said and done, I know I've done everything possible to ensure our Airmen are prepared to deploy," Sergeant Masini said. "I can sleep at night because of that."