AFMC selects Eglin for installation excellence competition

  • Published
  • By Samuel King Jr.
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  For an unprecedented second year in a row, Air Force Materiel Command selected Eglin as its choice for the Commander-in-Chief's 2012 Annual Award for Installation Excellence.

"This is a tremendous honor," said Col. Sal Nodjomian, the 96th Air Base Wing commander. "Our Team Eglin warriors produce award-worthy work each and every day...whether it's bedding down our new mission partners, providing world-class medical support, training tomorrow's warriors, or turning jets on the flightline. It's because of these professionals, and our commitment to 'superior support...all the time', we've been chosen for this award."

The award package highlighted many of AFMC's "best" units all with the award hardware to back it up. They include the air traffic control facility, command post, chapel, communications squadron and information assurance team, financial management, contracting, environmental, recycling, family support center, fire department/emergency services, hospital, judge advocate, logistics readiness, public affairs, security forces, force support, and safety just to name a few.

Team Eglin had plenty to be proud of for the 2011 fiscal-year timeline. Along with the awards, the base's tempo was continuous which lead to many successes. Here are just some of them.

The 96th's explosive ordnance disposal flight was considered the busiest in the Air Force for its fourth straight year with 506 non-Air Expeditionary Force missions. Eglin also executed the command's largest AEF commitment with more than 2,000 Airmen deployed.

Eglin's chapel provided almost 18,000 volunteer hours spread among 583 people. AFMC's largest communications squadron, the 96th Communications Squadron, managed 1.8 million miles of cable, 348,000 emails, and 127,000 phone calls and built the Air Force's first multi-major command Sharepoint site. FM managed $2 billion in funding over 48 separate accounts.

Eglin's civil engineers managed $1.2 billion and 344 construction projects including the Base Realignment and Closure projects. Contracting awarded $2.6 billion in contracts. The Air Force's largest environmental program won three Secretary of Defense awards and was able to officially bring the Okaloosa Darter back from the brink of extinction. Housing management launched its part of a six-base privatization initiative. The fire department executed 1,000 non-emergency responses and 1,200 emergency responses throughout the year.

The 96th Medical Group facilitated 338,000 medical appointments and 113,000 dental procedures. Eglin's judge advocate helped 4,271 clients with 4,629 documents and 6,877 notaries. Logistics readiness managed 53,000 line items worth $1.2 billion and almost 2,000 vehicles worth $140 million.

Security forces personnel secured $16 billion in assets, 79 sites and 15,000 test missions. Force support upgraded their facilities like the fitness center and the base club. The Safety office recorded zero Class A and B mishaps over the past five years.

Col Nodjomian went on to say, "many of these accomplishments would be astonishing in an average year, but to perform so consistently well with limited funding and personnel is a true testament to the ingenuity and commitment of our Airmen."

Eglin will compete against other command winners for the Air Force level award. Each finalist base will be visited by an inspection team next year. The winner's are traditionally announced in April.