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FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wa -- The 141st Air Refueling Wing is changing with the strategic environment and adding a new Air Force staff structure, more commonly known as the A-Staff. These wing structure changes are tied to the sweeping changes announced in February 2024 by the Department of the Air Force. The Air Force made 24 key decisions to reoptimize the department to compete in Great Power Competition.
The current structure requires wings to accomplish multiple missions and balance competing manning and resource challenges to achieve their missions. To reoptimize for Great Power Competition, our future organizations will be required to rapidly deploy as a unified warfighting capability and be agile and maneuverable with a much leaner staff.
“This optimized design empowers subordinates to make decisions at the lowest levels,” said Col. James McGovern, 141st Air Refueling Wing Commander. “This structure will allow leaders at all levels to focus on the war fighting mission and integrate easily into Joint environments.”
The first step of moving towards the DAF’s desired end state for wing structure, the new Unit of Action, is to establish A-Staffs within wings.
The A-Staff at wings consists of six Air Force functions categorized A1 through A6. These Air Force functions include A1- Manpower, Personnel, and Services, A2 - Intelligence, A3- Operations, A4- Logistics and Engineering, A5- Plans and Integration and A6- Communications and Special Staff.
The 141st has designated 21 military positions for the A-Staff to improve readiness. The A-Staff is responsible for informing and implementing the wing commander’s decisions, generating recommendations and cultivating and maintaining the internal and external relationships needed for success. The joint force, major commands and field command levels of the Air Force have used the A-Staff construct for decades. Implementing A-Staff structure across wings will ensure a seamless transition when Airmen are deployed and need to work with a Joint Staff or A-Staff.
“Strategically it makes more sense.” Said Lt. Col. Shannon Yellin, A4 - Director of Logistics. “If you activate a wing and take it downrange you know the person to your right and the person to your left, knowing their individual strengths and weaknesses. This new structure allows us to train in-garrison how we will deploy and fight.”
This new structure facilitates the wing’s ability to prioritize needs that keep the wing mission ready.
“Anything at the wing level and below is going to stay with the groups but anything at wing level and above will be the responsibility of A-Staff to coordinate or collaborate with agencies like the National Guard Bureau and state headquarters,” said Yellin. “Deployment taskers, whether they are for federal operations or domestic operations, would all flow through the A-Staff. “
The groups and squadrons can utilize the A-Staff for mission needs. It can help improve capabilities to integrate as a team, provide a strategic outlook on mission abilities and deliver opportunities for the team to be successful.
“As the A-Staff, we work with the groups and squadrons under our authority and know whether or not we could fulfill a given deployment tasker,” said Yellin. “The A-Staff can also be used as a resource for squadrons for mission needs by collaborating with the proper channel, leaving the squadron more man hours for mission critical operations.”
The 141st is familiar with this type of strategic structure but historically never called it the A-Staff.
“The Guard is going to be a little bit different than Active Duty because of the domestic mission we have. But the A-Staff concept is something that we have been doing a long time in the 141st,” Yellin said. “We have a staff that helps integrate in a joint environment to support operations; examples are the Oso mudslide, wildfires, civil disturbance, and COVID operations. The transition to a wing-level A-Staff enhances what we have been doing in the wing for about a decade.”
The wing-level A-staff went into effect at the 141st in September 2024 and is scheduled to reach full operational capabilities by the end of the year.
“As with any type of reorganization there will be some growing pains,” said McGovern. “But I am confident our team will come together to work through these issues and succeed on any front.”
| Date Taken: | 10.19.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.23.2024 02:12 |
| Story ID: | 483635 |
| Location: | SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 469 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 141st ARW implements A-Staff structure to Reoptimize for GPC, by SSgt Jordan Pollock, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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