Budget crunches open unexplored avenues

  • Published
  • By Brig. Gen. Robert P. Steel
  • 48th Fighter Wing commander
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  As we all know by now, budget constraints deeply hit the entire Department of the Air Force for fiscal year 2007. The U.S. Air Forces in Europe's budget was hit extremely hard and the 48th Fighter Wing was no exception--we were given 40 percent less to work with at the beginning of this Fiscal Year. 

What does this mean to you? As many of us have already experienced, commanders have limited temporary duty assignments, aggressively trimmed cell phone bills and even looked hard at training requirements in order to keep our operational mission going strong, even in the midst of reduced funding. 

But it is not just up to commanders to find efficiencies in our processes and trim the fat off funding requirements. I challenge each of you to help find ways to save money in your work centers and units. 

Prior to the budget cuts seen this year, the Air Force introduced Air Force Smart Operations 21. AFSO21's aim is to encourage Airmen look at unit processes to find smarter, more cost-effective ways to accomplish the mission. 

"Smarter" can include redesigning work areas, improving administrative processes, submitting suggestions to the IDEA program and even consolidating work centers to eliminate redundancy in maintenance and personnel processes. 

In order to facilitate the wing's AFSO21 initiatives, Maj. Gen. Marc Rogers, USAFE vice commander, visited RAFs Lakenheath and Mildenhall April 17 to talk to wing leadership and managers about AFSO21 successes and initiatives. In addition, the Liberty Wing now has an AFSO21 office located in Building 1085, headed by Lt. Col. Larry Gudgell. Stop by and find out some of the tools and resources to energize your unit in an AFSO21 event. 

The 48th Fighter Wing has already initiated some AFSO21 successes. I invite everyone to view the strides taken by 48th Munitions Squadron as their Rapid Improvement plan follows through on areas identified by a LEAN event held in the squadron the week of March 19. Or visit the 48th Operations Support Squadron's Notice to Airmen program, which received global acclaim last summer because of their improved, automated NOTAM posting system. Better yet, call the 48th Medical Group's Referral Management Center and see how smoothly off-base appointments and medical care can be when process improvements are applied in our base hospital. 

I challenge all of you to think long and hard about how you conduct your day-to-day business. What actions do you take that have already been accomplished by some one else? What supplies do you buy that are simply nice to have? Do you spend more time carting your tools from one end of the shop to the other than actually working on the equipment? 

While our slice-of-the budget pie might offer a smaller portion than in previous years, we continue to proudly accomplish our wing mission successfully and safely. In order to do so more efficiently, Team Liberty can help by searching out new ways to succeed while leveraging cost savings. Ask yourself: "Do I really need this to accomplish the mission?" 

If everyone makes the most out of every dollar and action taken, we will continue to succeed as the premier fighter wing in USAFE. Doing more with less is possible; so is doing less with less, when appropriate. It simply takes everyone making the effort to work smarter, not harder.