Readiness does not happen by accident Published Sept. 16, 2010 By Brig. Gen. Ed Wilson Commander, 45th Space Wing Patrick AFB, Fla. -- Next week, the 45th Space Wing will be conducting a four-day exercise designed to test our readiness on a wide variety of possible force protection and anti-terrorism scenarios. We look forward to doing this, because we all have learned over the years that nothing takes the place of being prepared. As one of my instructors at the Air Force Academy used to remind us, "Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance!" His fabled "P5" slogan not only helped me gain a bit of confidence in school, it's sage advice and can save lives when times - and circumstances - get tough. Are we perfect? Far from it. That's why it's important that we train together and measure ourselves against a set of high standards. We'll improve our performance both individually and as a team, plus we'll certainly find better ways of doing things. Like we said last week, times are changing and the "this is the way we always did it" mentality has to become a thing of the past. We all need to be current on the current Wing and Air Force procedures in everything from calling in an emergency to reporting the whereabouts of all our personnel. We'll be the first to admit it--training like this is not always fun. That said, it's kind of like eating your vegetables. Might not taste or feel good when you're doing it, but in the end it's one of the best things we can do! Fair warning! There will be interruptions across the base due to the readiness scenarios, which will impact many of us. Our promise is that we'll keep them short and to the point so that folks can continue with their normal duties and activities. We'll also do our best to keep you informed without compromising the value of the training we have scheduled. To "keep it real," we need to keep things as "normal" as possible to better evaluate how our teams react to unexpected scenarios. It's critical that we train like we fight. In my humble opinion...it's the only way to train, and we intend to do it that way. We appreciate your patience while we put "P5" into practice. Our readiness depends on it! Thanks for all you do.