ORI Profile -- IG team recognizes Laughlin Senior NCO's program for best practice

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Olufemi Owolabi
  • 47th FTW public Affairs
LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Master Sgt. David Drotts, superintendent of manpower and organization for the 47th Force Support Squadron, was recognized for creating a program that reduced the administrative workload of the Unit Deployment Manager by 75 percent. The program also produces IMT Forms populated with information required for a deployment.

Sergeant Drotts was one of five members coined by Laughlin's 2007 Operational Readiness Inspection team during the ORI out brief here Tuesday.

"I was really excited for being singled out from such an outstanding group of people...Team XL," Sergeant Drotts said.

Sergeant Drotts' program was submitted as a best practice because it is easy to transport and setup and is applicable to any UDM in the Air Force. According to him, the inspectors found the program invaluable to all UDMs.

"This program proves that we don't always have to rely on spending millions of dollars for someone to develop a software solution for all of our problems," said Sergeant Drotts. "Just like the Air Force utilizes local talent and takes advantage of 'self help' projects to beautify our buildings, we can also take advantage of our talented, computer savvy folks to create "self help" software solutions."

Furthermore Sergeant Drotts attributed the success of creating the program to combining innovative ideas and teamwork. He said the program wouldn't have been a success without assistance from some of his unit members, who are Tech. Sgt. Anthony Williams, Donna Posey and John Rogers.

"I think that as AFSO 21 stretches our imaginations, you are going to see more folks developing local solutions and proving that necessity is the power of invention and that answers are often found from within ones own unit and function," Sergeant Drotts said.

Sergeant Drotts' commander, Maj. Thomas Ballard, described him as an outstanding leader, teammate, and senior NCO... He is the epicenter of the 47th FSS deployment machine. "Sergeant Drotts is a great representative of the 47th FSS's 236 outstanding Airmen, and I was very proud to see the squadron highlighted during the IG out brief," Major Ballard said.