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Airdrop is the act of extracting cargo out of the back of the airplane while the airplane is flying. The loaders section consists of 30 session ready airman. In order to accomplish this mission every member of the airlift squadron must remain current on all training items. Every six months there are a number of training events that must take place for every member. Without accomplishing each event, the member becomes “not mission ready” and this, in turn effects the entire squadron.
In order to keep everyone mission ready, the chief loaders, Scams Ballard, schedules weekly flying for everyone in the unit. Each member can accomplish a limited number of tasks per flight, so in order to accomplish the entire list of acquirement, a member must fly nearly once every two weeks. This unit, being an Air National Guard unit has its limitations as most members have outside full-time jobs and have limited availability. This makes scheduling difficult for Scams Ballard because it is his job to ensure everyone is mission ready.
Managers abilities (Planning, Organizing, Directing, Controlling) “Planning is the logical thinking through goals and making the decision as to what needs to be accomplished in order to reach the section’s, department’s or organization’s objectives. Organization is a matter of appointing individuals to assignments or responsibilities that blend together to develop one purpose, to accomplish the goals. It is supervising, or leading workers to accomplish the goals of the organization. The process that guarantees plans are being implemented properly is the controlling process (Trident University, n,d). Scams Ballard is a great manager and leader. He oversees 30 members of our unit in every aspect of the workplace. He delegates certain areas to other supervisors in the unit; like medical readiness, the seasoning training program, safety, and other areas. Scams Ballard plans the schedule for our nit so that everyone remains mission ready and readily deployable. Deploying overseas to help other forces is the most important aspect of our job. Scams Ballard also ensures that members who have been flying for a while help out the newest members.
The squadron has yearly flight evaluations that must be planned and scheduled so that our unit can ensure everyone knows how to do their job the right way. Scams Ballard and 2 other high ranking members of our unit act as flight evaluators. If during a flight they feel that a member isn’t being safe or doing their job correctly, he can immediately disqualify that member from flying. If a member fails his/her evaluation they must fly with an instructor and start the process of becoming re-qualified over a long period.
Scams Ballard is also in charge of assigning annual training days for each member. In the Air National Guard, each member is required to have 15 days of active duty training (part of the one weekend a month and two weeks a year slogan). He notifies everyone that they can schedule those annual training days and everyone submits their requested days. He is in charge of ensuring everyone shows up on time and is available to accomplish squadron tasks. Department Issues There are a few issues in the department but the biggest area of concern is keeping everyone mission ready.
Performing in-flight tasks is at the discretion of the member, as they are required to submit availability sheets to Scams Ballard, so that he knows when people are available. For example, if airdrops are only performed on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the member is only available on Wednesdays, it will be difficult to keep that person up to date. There are other areas, like computer based training, that everyone in the Air Force has to accomplish, but these are additional items on top of our light requirements that Scams Ballard must keep track of.
A second issue is the availability of aircraft to perform required tasks. The airplanes at the squadron are nearly 20 years Old, and are starting to wear down. This means more time in the maintenance shop being fixed and repaired. The more time an airplane spends in the hangar, the less time members of the unit get to fly it.