55th Wing’s ‘culture of compliance’ pays off in UCI

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Danielle Grannan
  • 55th Wing Public Affairs
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. --  After months of preparation and a week of presenting programs and operations, the Air Combat Command Inspector General's team gave the 55th Wing a thumbs up for the unit compliance inspection that ended last week.

The 55th Wing welcomed 91 members of the ACC/IG office and the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency Sept. 19 to kick off the week-long UCI that checked the wing's adherence to Air Force and Department of Defense regulations and standards of conduct.

"While we didn't quite meet the very high goals I set for the wing, the ACC/IG team had nothing but the highest compliments for our wing," said Brig. Gen. John N.T. Shanahan, 55th Wing commander. "We had a remarkably small number of discrepancies."

Every Air Force unit undergoes a UCI every four years and according to 55th Wing UCI Executive Summary, the IG team used ACC staff-approved compliance and standardization requirements lists to verify the unit's compliance with public law, executive orders, DOD, Air Force and ACC directives.

"[This was the] best performance for a wing of this size," said Col. Leonard Moskal, the ACC/IG team lead for the UCI. "We've never seen a ['does not comply'] rate this low ... there's clearly a culture of compliance in the 55th Wing."

General Shanahan was happy enough with the wing's performance to reward Team Offutt with a wing-wide down day Oct. 8.

"All of you worked very hard to get us to this point," said General Shanahan in an address to the wing. "We know there are some things we need to fix as a result of the inspection uncovering a few holes, but in standard Fightin' Fifty-Fifth fashion, that's exactly what we'll do."

While Oct. 8 is a day off for the military members of the 55th Wing, regular liberal leave policies remain in effect for civilian employees.