First awards ceremony at the JSF ITC marks Nomad history

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Michael Sellers
  • 33rd Maintenance Group
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  The 33d Fighter Wing held its first joint service awards ceremony on May 11 in Nomad Hall to honor the Wing's quarterly award recipients.

Officer honorees are chosen from the company grade ranks and enlisted honorees are chosen in junior grade, mid-grade and senior grade categories. All members of the Joint Strike Fighter Integrated Training Center are considered for recognition.

"Our commanders and senior enlisted have developed an awards program that mirrors our daily operations," said Col. Dave Hlatky, 33rd FW commander. "We work together, we have a common goal, and now we recognize excellence together. Today, it's four services. In the near future, we will include international partners."

The carefully created approach of categorizing awards was used in this first ceremony to award four Nomads: Capt. Natasha Porcher, chief of protocol; Senior Master Sgt. Mark Vincent, 33rd Maintenance Squadron; Tech. Sgt. Kurt Van Wagenen, 33rd Maintenance Group; and Lance Corporal Deanndrous Johnson, Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501.

Each category had to fit each individual service component's need while honoring the recipient. Thus, the categories are: junior grade, consisting of E-1 to E-4; mid grade, consisting of E-5 to E6; senior grade, consisting of E-7 to E-8. The officer category will continue to be the company grade officer.

"The categories themselves brought about great challenges in presenting the awards. Until one serves jointly, you wouldn't recognize the intricacies in our enlisted structure," said 33rd FW Command Chief Master Sgt. Robert Newman. "For instance, the Air Force and Navy recognize the top three enlisted ranks or rates as senior noncommissioned officers. The Marine Corps recognize the top four enlisted ranks as staff noncommissioned officers."

Colonel Hlatky stressed the significance of the joint awards to the growing number of 33rd FW members.

"These are the top performers in our wing as determined by joint selection panels, and we're not going to water these down by distributing them evenly," he said to the joint audience of Nomads. "The winners are the winners, and I hope the integrity of the process and the diversity of the competition are sources of pride for everyone."

The wing plans to continue their new program with quarterly and annual awards. Separately, each service will also select its own annual award winners to compete in service-specific annual awards processes outside the wing.

"We grateful for the opportunity to recognize our outstanding Marines, Sailors and Airmen," Chief Newman said. "This was truly a proud moment for the men and women of the 33rd Fighter Wing."