Spiderman joins OEF

1/26/2004 - KARSHI-KHANBAD AIRFIELD, Uzbekistan (AFPN) -- Airmen are known for their innovation, and are encouraged and challenged to continually look for better and smarter ways to accomplish the mission.

For one senior noncommissioned officer supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, that challenge led to a labor of love. He developed a computer tool -- called Spiderman -- that allows commanders to accurately track and report all airmen assigned to, and passing through, the base.

When Master Sgt. Dennis Mix, 416th Air Expeditionary Wing personnel flight team chief, arrived here, he was tasked with keeping track of all deployed members serving at, and visiting, the base. He found that the system being used to accomplish this task was extremely labor intensive and contained data that was often questionable.

Sergeant Mix recognized the importance of being able to produce a daily, error-free, list that reported the status and personal information of each person on base.

Working with his airmen, Sergeant Mix developed a new computer program that puts all the information commanders need on deployed people at their fingertips.

Affectionately know as Spiderman, the program spins a web that can check personnel information against an Air Force data base and produce a report in clear text at the touch of a button.

While such administrative functions may not have the same glamour as combat missions, the Spiderman program is a critical part in operations here. To senior leaders its innovation has made Sergeant Mix a superhero.

The Spiderman program demonstrates the importance of distinguishing the line between efficiency and effectiveness, said Sergeant Mix, who is deployed from McChord Air Force Base, Wash. Something may seem to be the most efficient way to get a job done, but that is no indication how effective it is.

Spiderman seems to demonstrate both efficiency and effectiveness. Tasks that used to take hours, or even days, can now be accomplished in minutes, while solving problems with accuracy.

Today we have a pool of people with huge information technology capabilities in the Air Force, and we have some of the brightest airmen in our history, Sergeant Mix said. We have to continually ask ourselves what we can do better, and then look for ways to answer that question.

While the Spiderman program has immediate noticeable value for deployed commanders, it also looks after the best interest of the airmen. The Spiderman program has the ability to keep track of all airmen who will become re-enlistment eligible while deployed. For those in career fields with re-enlistment bonuses, that means more cash in the bank because re-enlisting here makes the bonus tax free.

Sergeant Mix is a deployed commander's dream, because he embodies the leadership and ingenuity needed to get the answers folks need when far from home, said Lt. Col. Karon Uzzell-Baggett, 416th Expeditionary Mission Support Squadron commander. He is passionate about ensuring the personnel flights primary role of personnel accountability and has developed a program which answers a myriad of questions about accountability. The program works so well we asked him to help us solve our problems with local-purchase orders. He is now actively developing a database which will ensure accountability for assets and allow more scrutiny of orders.

When asked why he decided to name the computer program Spiderman, Sergeant Mix smiled with pride and explained that it was named for his 4-year-old son, Erik.

Spiderman is his favorite superhero, so picking the name was easy, he said.