WPAFB weighs gradual reopening
About 20% of base’s workforce to return to their offices next week.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — Ohio’s largest single-site employer — will launch a measured approach in reopening, with the number of workers at the base slated to start to roughly double next week.
Despite a historic global pandemic, Wright-Patterson remains not only a major regional employer but a major Air Force base whose mission-focus never wavered, said Col. Tom Sherman, 88th Air Base Wing and installation commander. A base spokesman last week said Wright-Patterson lost no units or jobs in the COVID-19 crisis.
“The United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson never stopped working,” Sherman said in an interview with the Dayton Daily News. “We were able to incorporate technology and virtual capabilities, and we were able to really remarkably continue
the mission of the U.S. Air Force, just in a very differ- ent manner.”
“Our employees were incredibly resilient in adapting to the technological methods, virtual work, telework and so forth,” he added. “The mission of the Air Force continued to move forward while the COVID-19 crisis was around all of us. It’s a remarkable testament to the resiliency and ingenu- ity of the Air Force to keep that mission going.”
But what base leaders are calling the first phase of the reopening will look a lot like conditions today.
Beginning Monday, commanders and directors will be allowed to bring up to 20% of their assigned work- force back to work centers and offices to complete mission essential tasks.
Base leaders expect an additional 3,000 to 4,000 people on base in the first phase of reopening.
Today, about 3,000 workers in a variety of roles — medical, security, firefighting, communication and other jobs — physically work at the base. That’s about 10% of the base’s typical daily workforce. The remainder of employees have been teleworking.
Sherman declined to put a timeline on the first phase of the reopening, saying that it will look not dramatically different from the precau- tions in place today.
The commander said base leaders have tried to remain in “lockstep” with Ohio government and the wider com- munity while staying in con- tact with the base popula- tion. Base leaders typically host virtual weekly town meetings on Facebook to keep residents and work- ers updated.
“Our teams are dialed in, across the board,” Sherman said.
That includes regular communication with the Ohio Department of Health and the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association, he said.
“It is a daily analysis of trends, capacities, supply, capability — all of those com- ponents that go into making a decision on how we would make a decision from one phase to the next,” Sher- man said.
Telework will continue. Some people will continue working from home, perhaps working a week on base, then working from home for two weeks before returning, Wright-Patterson said in a recent news release.
Base personnel have been told to practice social distancing, hand-washing, san- itizing offices, wearing face coverings and other safety measures.
Staggered arrival, departure, lunch and break times will also be employed to cut down on crowding.
In-person meetings are to have fewer than 10 people. “In fact, the use of virtual meetings is encouraged when possible,” the base said.
“Our ultimate goal is to create an environment that gives our mission partners the greatest flexibility while reinforcing care and health for all of our employees,” Sherman said in a statement earlier this week.
In recent weeks, the base has closed three gates, leav- ing four open — gate 12A, which leads to Air Force Materiel Command headquarters; gate 19B; gate 26A; and gate 1A, better known as the commissary gate.
That gate access will remain unchanged for now.
Meanwhile, one of the base’s important centers is about to get a new commander.
Maj. Gen. Shaun Q. Morris has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general and will become the com- mander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, the Air Force said Wednes- day.
If confirmed, Morris will replace Lt. Gen. Robert McMurry, who has led AFLCMC since May 2017.
Morris today is commander of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center and is Air Force Program executive officer for Strategic Systems at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, the Air Force said. In his new position Morris will oversee management of the life span of aircraft, engines, munitions and electronic systems, many of them aging.
Led by a three-star general, AFLCMC is one of six centers reporting to the Air Force Materiel Command, also based at Wright-Patterson. About 26,000 AFLCMC airmen, civilian and contractors work from nine major locations and dozens of smaller sites.