What is the aperture of available resources? Published Sept. 5, 2013 By Lt. Col. Brian T. Musselman 9th Physiological Support Squadron BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Aviation has used a principle called crew resource management for over three decades. In the simplest terms, crew resource management, or CRM, is the effective use of all available resources. The aspect of CRM I will focus on in the commentary is the essence of available resources. Recently, my squadron suffered from the untimely death of a squadron member. In the interest of honoring her with an exceptional memorial service, the squadron leadership assembled to divide tasks. We were using all available resources. One person had a contact in maintenance, so he was task to coordinate hangar space and a static display. One person knew the public affairs personnel, so she would coordinate for pictures and video. Another person had a contact at the honor guard. The taskings went down the line. We had 72 hours to plan the memorial service, and, as the Squadron Commander, I felt like we were in a 20-man life raft floating in the Pacific. We were using all available resources, and my squadron teammates were working hard (because they are awesome), but I wasn't sure all available resources were going to be adequate resources. Admittedly, I was extremely sad about the loss of my squadron teammate and I was emotionally and physically drained from the previous several days. As I sat in my office after the initial memorial planning meeting, contemplating all that had happened and needed to happen, feeling overwhelmed, I received a phone call. The Director of Staff was on the other end. "What do you need? I have been through this before and I can assemble the resources to help you." It was like I was sitting in the 20-man life raft and I just received a radio call from a rescue C-130 saying he has two rescue HH-60 in tow and they were here to help out. In my current state, I had not thought to ask for help. I had not realized there were more resources available. The next morning, my squadron leadership walked into the wing conference room and every wing support agency we needed to assist us was there. In less than an hour, questions were answered, tasks were assigned and the memorial event was planned. The Director of Staff had opened the aperture of available resources and I will be forever be grateful to him and the entire team that assembled that day to, with great respect, honor a great Airman with a phenomenal memorial service. It takes a great team to perform great things. Sometimes you need to reach out to your teammates and let them know what resources are available and sometimes, you need to say, "Yes, I will accept your help."