By CAPT (sel) Martin C. de Wet, Commanding Officer NAVAIRSYSCOM Det. 1187 and LT Mike Randazzo, ASP Public Affairs

ATSUGI, Japan--Recently, eleven Naval reservists from the Air Systems Program (ASP) provided vital support to the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Inspector General (IG) by conducting a scheduled command inspection of the U.S. Naval Air Pacific Repair Activity (NAPRA) located here and the NAPRA detachment in Okinawa, Japan. This event marks the first time an all-Reserve team has been deployed to conduct a NAVAIR IG inspection.

IG inspections assess a number of mission and support operations within the command as well as designated special interest items. The IG team usually consists of military and civilian subject matter experts who spend one-week on site at the command. The goal of the inspection is to provide assistance and training as needed to support the command in its efforts to maintain the highest levels of readiness, effectiveness, discipline, efficiency, integrity, and public confidence.
The NAPRA inspection was originally scheduled earlier in the year, but was delayed until late June due to world events and scheduling issues. Instead of canceling the inspection, CAPT Connie Walker, USN, NAVAIR's Inspector General, proposed increased partnership with ASP reservists from around the country to support this evolution.

The hand-picked team of ten officers and a chief petty officer was assigned to inspect 20 areas of command operations and support; a challenging assignment for a small group that required enhanced pre-inspection visit coordination and planning. Using NAPRA’s Command Self Assessment as a baseline, the ASP IG team partnered closely with civilian and active duty subject matter experts from NAVAIR Headquarters, Patuxent River, Md., and the Naval Supply Systems Command’s Naval Inventory Control Point, Philadelphia, Pa., to provide inspection team members with additional training and enhancedassessment tools prior to traveling to Japan.

Through close cooperation and coordination with NAVAIR and NAVICP, this team of reservists conducted the IG inspection and provided valuable insights and recommendations to the Commanding Officer, NAPRA Atsugi and NAVAIR’s Chain of Command.

In recognizing ASP inspection team members, RADM Bert Johnston (Acting COMNAVAIR) noted their exemplary support in achieving a task normally assigned to twice as many personnel. In discussing the inspection mission partnership between NAVAIR’s Office of the Inspector General and ASP, CAPT Walker said, “…the expertise and perspective the ASP reservists bring to the table from industry and academia add tremendous value to our inspections. Although an IG inspection team is normally comprised of personnel from NAVAIR and ASP Reservists, in NAPRA’s case, streamlined Reserve manning was the right answer. We appreciate the long-standing history of partnership in our inspection mission, and look forward to expanding that partnership in a range of initiatives."

The ASP consists of approximately 600 Naval Reserve officer and enlisted personnel providing direct support to the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) team at its headquarters in Patuxent River, Md., and locations throughout the United States. The Program’s 32 units are located throughout 14 states, and provide NAVAIR with in-depth customer support for research and development, engineering, program management, logistics, and industrial capability. For more information about ASP please contact LT Mike Randazzo, ASP Public Affairs Officer at 717-279-7068 or [email protected].

Members in picture:

1st row (left to right): CAPT Walt Ginn (Deputy IG for Inspections);CAPT Connie Walker, NAVAIR IG); CAPT Dick Otis

2nd row (left to right): CDR Buck Guest, ATC (AW) Troy Parker, CAPT(s) Martin de Wet, CDR Paul Francis, CAPT Mark Davison, ENS John Fisher, CDR Brian Saxman, CDR Mark Rader, CDR Howard Folkes