LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
The 480th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing salutes its annual award winners for making an exceptional contribution to the wing's worldwide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations mission.
Airman of the Year
Senior Airman Cheryl A. Moore,
8th Intelligence Squadron
As the lead weapon system analyst, Airman Moore supported the intelligence needs of 40 crew members, produced 170 mission briefs, enabled the prosecution of 10,000 targets and found three IEDs and ten terrorists. In addition, she initiated a new mission management process that reduced man-hours by 66 percent, ensuring ISR mission crews were ready for combat.
Noncommissioned Officer of the Year
Tech. Sgt Paul Kodiak,
10th Intelligence Squadron
Sergeant Kodiak expertly corrected a degraded satellite communication link, then went on to develop a how-to guide to explain how to fix the communication link in the future. This action helped stabilize world-wide U-2 data feeds. He also hosted inaugural ground-to-air radio training that readied six people for deployment, saving the wing $29,000 on TDY costs.
Senior NCO of the Year
Master Sgt. Marc Sica,
693rd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group
As the theater authority on ISR optimization, Sergeant Sica maxed out the aircraft utilization rate, at the same time balancing national theater requirements for European Command and African Command. He also assembled a decisive hot wash team made up of members from theater, Air Force ISR Agency, Air Combat Command and the Air Staff resulting in the development of three major actions for future ISR operations.
First Sgt. of the Year: Senior Master Sgt. Stephen Charles, 485th Intelligence Squadron
Senior Master Sgt. Charles penned, edited and boarded more than 150 awards for the squadron and its Airmen resulting in 40 awards for his unit. Sergeant Charles also organized Wingman Day events by planning briefings and discussions for 88 unit members increasing the training and safety statistics to 94 percent.
Company Grade Officer of the Year
Capt. Kathryn Fitzgerald,
303rd Intelligence Squadron
Captain Fitzgerald was responsible for leading a multi-national Korean tactics conference for 117 attendees from four nations, the largest tactics symposium worldwide. She also steered the tracking of eight weapons of mass destruction shipments, alerted the State Department, resulted in 35 tons of illicit weapons seized.
Junior Civilian of the Year
April L. Shepherd,
10th Intelligence Squadron
Shepherd expertly crafted 50 daily tasking reviews, analyzed the responses and limitations, and kept leaders aware of key issues. In addition, she revised personnel function guides by standardizing criteria for 15 programs to meet stringent UCI standards. She also refined the squadron's additional duty program by revising the format and formulating an electronic quick reference.
Intermediate Civilian of the Year
Brian T. Yanik,
13th Intelligence Squadron
Yanik crafted a floor plan for a new $46 million operations floor improving the work flow process analysis that will optimize the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations for years to come. In addition, he engineered and implemented a new counter IED tactic which resulted in the most dramatic increase in finding ISR IEDs to date.
Senior Civilian of the Year
Patrick D. Masters,
693rd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group
Masters engineered and implemented a new counter IED tactic that resulted in the most dramatic increase in ISR IED findings to date, helping to save the lives of combat troops. In addition, he authored future crew composition for DCGS manning by pioneering the idea of adding analysis/reporting teams to the missions mix.
Unit awards:
Associated Active Duty Unit of the Year
13th Intelligence Squadron
Associated Air National Guard Unit of the Year
234th Intelligence Squadron
Non-Associated Air National Guard Unit of the Year
181st Intelligence Wing