Headset Inventory Tracking

USAF-556 didn't come to build another tracking system. They came to solve a readiness problem—when critical air traffic control headsets break without warning, operations suffer.

What's At Stake

At Offutt Air Force Base, air traffic controllers depend on headsets that fail unpredictably. Staff Sergeant Ethan Hollis was managing inventory through Excel spreadsheets—a manual process that couldn't keep pace with equipment failures or provide the visibility commanders need for mission readiness.

Learning from the Source

Led by Alex Beck, USAF-556 recognized that inventory problems aren't solved remotely—they're solved where the equipment lives and dies. When initial communication delays prevented full problem understanding, the team made the call to visit the base directly.

Their approach: get on-site, talk to operators, and discover whether headset tracking was the real problem or a symptom of something larger.

Operators of Another Kind

Alex Beck, leading the effort from Indiana University, brought systems thinking to an operational challenge. Working alongside teammates Nathan Wild and Miles Anderson, the team combined technical capabilities with a commitment to ground truth over assumptions.

What Comes Next

With base access planned, USAF-556 is positioned to understand the full scope of the inventory challenge and develop solutions that match operational reality rather than theoretical requirements.

They didn't just accept the problem statement. They went to find the real problem.