Utah ANG achieves full compliance rating on Personnel Readiness

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Air National Guard recently achieved a full compliance rate across all spectrums of the A1 Personnel Readiness Statistics.

This is the first time since these records have been tracked that this level has been attained.

The statistics track readiness, training, and recruiting strength. These numbers can be tracked to show trends and weaknesses. Brig. General David Fountain, Assistant Adjutant General for Air, noticed numerous broken processes and saw room for improvement 14 months ago, and began laying the foundation for improvement. He ordered commanders and senior non-commissioned officers to address shortcomings and implement solutions. Since then, numbers in every category have improved.

"I'm very pleased with what our commanders and senior NCOs have accomplished in this short time", said Fountain.

Fountain terms the A1 PERSTAT sheet as a snapshot in time, showing where a unit is in their skill sets and ability to deploy.

The improvement is significant in many regards. It allows units to better concentrate on their core jobs, allowing leadership to better position their organizations and look at other opportunities to pursue. It allows leaders to be proactive rather than reactive. An increase in quality recruiting has allowed commanders to not worry about manpower strength, and to build high performance teams within their units.

"It is important as we move forward, showing that the entire Utah Air Guard has phenomenal talent and incredible skill sets residing in Utah not seen elsewhere in the Air Guard. It allows us to shine on a national level", said Fountain.

"When any outside organization starts racking and stacking units, this is one of the first things they look at", added Brig. General Kenneth Gammon, Utah Air Guard Chief of Staff, noting that with increased scrutiny under tightening budgets, it is more important than ever that the Utah Air Guard remain competitive and a viable force on the national level.

Lt. Col. Julie Anderson, A1 Director, is the person responsible for tracking and briefing the readiness statistics to leadership. She was impressed with the base-wide effort that allowed the numbers to go from a yellow, and sometimes even red category, to all green.

"A lot of people made the difference by putting focus on it. We take care of our people by doing this", said Anderson, who noted that training and evaluations are critical to getting people prepared for advancement. "It was a disservice to our people come promotion time" she added.

"Excellence in all we do is the standard, and we've proven that", said Fountain.

Fountain intends to maintain readiness at the current level. Expectations have been made visible to Utah Air Guard leadership. Staying at a high level of readiness makes it easy to talk to government leaders, reinforcing the value of the Utah Air Guard's mission.

"I'm proud to say that on the road to our future all lights are green, and that's exciting", said Fountain.