Deputy Operations Group Commander for Maintenance

There is considerable debate across the Air Force on the best way to functionally organize flight line aircraft maintenance. The latest organizational iteration has placed a lieutenant colonel aircraft maintainer in the Operations Group as the Deputy Operations Group Commander for Maintenance (DOGM). The purpose of this research is to determine the unit (base) level satisfaction with the DOGM concept and to capture suggestions from the field to improve the DOGM's effectiveness. With no formal research on this new duty position, the primary instrument for data collection was a survey drafted by the research author and sent to senior operations and maintenance leaders at fourteen bases in Air Combat Command, United States Air Forces in Europe, and Air Education and Training Command. Satisfaction results showed an overall rating just above neutral as measured using a five-point Likert scale. Survey comments indicated a perceived lack of clearly defined responsibilities in the maintenance instructions and insufficient authority vested in the position were the most important factors detracting from DOGM effectiveness. There were a number of recommendations from survey respondents aimed at improving the position's effectiveness. Some were as simple as including DOGM responsibilities in 21-101 maintenance series instructions.