The II Marine Expeditionary Force received a visit from Lt. Gen. John E. Wissler, commander of United States Marine Corps Forces Command, to discuss readiness issues and how to rectify them, Dec. 12-16, 2016.
Wissler visited division, wing and engineer units at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point to talk over readiness issues and discover ways to resolve them in an effort to raise mission readiness.
“I have a responsibility to the Commandant to put together an analysis of readiness to present to him,” said Wissler. “I’m looking specifically at the impacts that policies and manning decisions have in different units.”
In the [flying squadrons], some of the issues are the right levels of people with the correct certifications, rank, grade and experience to ensure continued production of ready aircraft across all types and models, Wissler said.
“How we execute maintenance on some of our unique pieces of equipment is also affected, such as route clearance equipment, the robotics that we use in support of Explosive Ordnance Disposal,” Wissler said.
Even though a few dilemmas were brought to the forefront, it did not affect motivation to get their jobs done.
“I have many pieces and parts that I’ll take back with me to put together a plan for meeting mandatory training requirements and assignment policies to ensure that we can maximize our readiness as well as meeting these other needs,” said Wissler.
Wissler’s visit was extraordinary for the morale of the II Marine Expeditionary Force and will help boost mission completion and unit cohesion.