USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) (Ike) underwent a maintenance and material management assessment (3MA) to evaluate the ship's maintenance and material management (3M) program, Oct. 27-31.

These corrective inspections are preliminary to the maintenance and material management inspection (3MI), and are intended to help verify the ship's 3M program.

"The first part is an assessment to see where the ship is at as far as spot checks, and to see how their administration is doing," said Chief Petty Officer Daniel Galvan, a 3MA inspector. "The last part is the training portion. Whatever we see that is a major issue, we conduct training on to prepare the ship for 3MI."

The inspectors are senior enlisted personnel from the training department of Commander, Naval Air Forces, Atlantic (COMNAVAIRLANT). They observe random planned maintenance system (PMS) spot checks and validate the ship's ability to self-repair and conduct proper zone inspections. They also review the ship's 3M administration.

"We want to find and target areas of weakness and hold training before we leave to prepare the ship to make sure it's ready," Galvan said. "Ultimately, we want to see them succeed."

Ike will use this training and feedback to help further prepare them for the upcoming 3MI.

"This gives us an idea of where we are and how well we are self-assessing ourselves, and what we'll have to do to prepare for 3MI," said Lt. Kurt Bogart, Ike's 3M officer. "We have a good working relationship, and at the end of the day they're here to assist us."

The inspectors gave on-the-spot training and junior Sailors benefited from the feedback, ideally making them more confident in their ability to perform the check correctly.

"It was nerve wracking, but I learned a lot from it," said Seaman Dustin Hutchens, who passed his spot check on equipment cabinet filters. "They were very helpful; they weren't trying to fail us, but finding issues and fixing them. I'm glad that the check went well and that I was able to represent my division."

While the purpose is training and preparation, the inspection is still graded and important to the ship.

"So far everything looks really good; you can tell the crew is prepared," said Galvan. "We were sent here so that we can return and say Ike is doing maintenance correctly."

The Ike Carrier Strike Group is the first CSG to deploy under the new optimized fleet response plan (OFRP), a cross-community collaboration effort to better prepare the fleet in meeting combatant commander needs without straining the ships, planes, and Sailors. It is also the centerpiece of the Great Green Fleet for the second half of 2016, an initiative that demonstrates efforts to transform energy use and highlight it as a strategic resource.

Ike and its carrier strike group are deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, maritime security operations, and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.

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