Capflyer 121214

AN INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION OF COMPRINTMILITARY PUBLICATIONS AT JOINT BASE ANDREWS,MD.DCMILITARY.COM FRIDAY,DECEMBER 12, 2014 | VOL. 3 NO. 48

COMMUNITY NEWSCancer survivor gives philosophy on living life , Page 3

BASE NEWSD.C. soldiers, airmen work alongside

Jamaican partners, Page 4

COMMENTARY‘Tis the season to drink responsibly,

Page 2

BY LESLIE C. SMITHSTAFF WRITER

Last Saturday, sevenyoung men from Troup487 elevated to the rankof Eagle Scout. Theseyoung men were honoredfor their hard work anddedication at the EagleCourt of Honor ceremonyheld at Ebenezer AME inFort Washington, Md.

Seth Adams, NathanAdams, Bishop Beverly,Jelani Foster, MarlonWaits, Matthew Waitsand Hauns White stoodbefore family and friendsand received their pinsas they moved to EagleScout.

David Tapscott, ChiefMarketing Officer atCombs Enterprises, wasthe special guest speak-

er. He encouraged theyoung men, sharing sto-ries of famous historicalfigures and the fortitudethey displayed to per-severe and accomplishgreat things while over-coming obstacles.

Mark Adams Scout-master shared his pridefor his Troop, “Last yearwe had seven Eagles;this year we had sevenEagles... The Dragonpatrol were tagalongs;they started when theolder scouts started,they tagged along so theywere able to jump aheadof their fellow scouts be-cause they were alwaysdoing activities with theguys – That’s why youhave two sets of brothers.They’re all very intelli-

gent young men; they alldo well … I’m so proudI really can’t speak. I’vebeen with them for 9years and just watchingthem grow has been in-credible…Nathan andSeth not only made Eaglebut also have bronze andgold palm; and next weekthey go for their Silver.”

Assistant Scoutmas-ter, Rodney Beverlyshared, “It’s a group ef-fort and Troop 487, asa whole, have been sup-portive of not only myson, Bishop Beverly, butof all the young men thathave come through Troop487. The bottom line isthe resources the churchprovides and the com-munity – knowing whatwe are trying to do with

these young men – if youjoin troop 487, prettymuch with your will, de-sire and effort to moveforward we have the re-sources to help you reachthe highest ranking inScouting, Eagle Scout.

Involved with theprogram for 10 years,Bishop Beverly joinedwhen he was in secondgrade, he was was awolf scout, “and we havebeen a scouting familyever since. My wife andI have four kids and bothour daughters are GirlScouts and we have an-other son who is a sec-ond class scout and sowe pray the girls will gettheir gold Scout awardsand that Langston will

Seven men fromTroop 487 elevateto Eagle Scout

PHOTO/LESLIE C. SMITH

Seven Scouts were elevated to the Eagle Court of Honor on Dec. 6 at Ebenezer AME Church in Fort Washing-ton, Md.

see EAGLE, page 5

LIBERATORS DEPLOY INSUPPORT OF OPERATING

ENDURING FREEDOM

PHOTO/ STAFF SGT. AMBER RUSSELL

A group of Airman from the 459th MaintenanceGroup prepare to board a KC-135 Stratotanker.The 459th Maintenance and Operations Groupdeployed to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing in anundisclosed location in Southwest Asia and willprovide aerial refueling in support of OperationEnduring Freedom.

BY LESLIE C. SMITHSTAFF WRITER

The Prince George’sCounty Commission forVeterans, part of Fam-ily Services, held a fo-cus group on Monday inan effort to access theneeds of Veterans in thecounty to determine thefeasibility of creating alocal Veteran’s Affairsoffice in the county.

The first of focusgroups, the objective ofthe meeting is to havepeople voice their opin-ion on the subject withthe intention of takingthe results back to theCounty Executive in afeasibility study.

The aim of thesemeetings are to get ideasand thoughts on specificquestions on what thecounty should do – ifthe county should doanything – regarding ac-quiring a local VeteransAffairs office.

Attendees were divid-ed into four groups, withcommissioners leadingeach group, to better fa-cilitate discussion andto focus on answeringdiscovery questions in-cluding: the pressingconcerns of the militarycommunity; best waysto attract military vet-erans to remain in thecounty working, livingand raising families; aswell as what should bethe functions of a localoffice.

State Senator Doug-las J.J. Peters (D-Dis-trict 23) also spoke dur-ing the meeting withupdates concerning sev-eral items in regard toveterans in the countyincluding the creation ofa second Veterans’ homelocally (like the Char-lotte Hall), the cemeteryexpansion at Chelten-ham, and in particular

Commission for Veteransholds focus group onfeasibility of localVeterans Affairs office

see VETERANS, page 3

Andrews Gazette2 Friday, December 12, 2014

Andrews Gazette is published by Comprint MilitaryPublications, 9030 Comprint Court, Gaithersburg,Md., a private firm in no way connected with the U.S.Air Force or any branch of the United States military.The appearance of advertising in these publications,

including inserts or supplements, does not constitute endorsementby the Department of Defense, the Department of the Air Force orthe products and services advertised.

Everything advertised in this publication shall be made available forpurchase, use or patronage without regard to race, color, religion,sex, national origin, age,martial status, physical handicap, political af-filiation or any other nonmerit factor of the purchases, user or patron.

COMPRINT MILITARY PUBLICATIONS

Maxine Minar, [email protected]

John Rives, [email protected]

Deirdre Parry, page [email protected]

Leslie Smith, [email protected]

Bobby Jones, [email protected]

December 12-14Noon-5 p.m.15th Annual Gingerbread House Contest & ShowDarnall’s Chance House Museum, 14800 Gover-

nor Oden Bowie Drive, Upper Marlboro 20772Come view an amazing display of edible ginger-

bread houses. You will have the opportunity to votefor best house in the Viewer?s Choice Award Compe-tition. $1/person; Children 4 & under free

December 13-20Holiday Trains and PlanesCollege Park Aviation Museum, 1985 Cpl. Frank

Scott Drive, College Park, MdMiniature trains, villages, tunnels and depots

spark the imagination and bring history to life. TheNational Capital Trackers brings locomotive displayof model railroads. Free with Museum Admission

December 1311 a.m.Movies at Montpelier: Frozen Sing-A-LongMontpelier Arts Center, 9652 Muirkirk Road,

Laurel, MD 20708For more information call 301-377-7800.

December 144 p.m.An Cappella Holiday with The Capital HearingsMontpelier Arts Center, 9652 Muirkirk Road,

Laurel, MD 20708Since 2010, a cappella harmonies of The Capital

Hearings have delighted Washington audiences,large and small. With repertoire ranging from Re-naissance motets to modern hits, The Capital Hear-ings will be making spirits bright with a festive,family-friendly program of seasonal favorites, vocaljazz and contemporary arrangements.

Through January 1Festival of Lights5-9:30 p.m.Watkins Regional Park, 301 Watkins Park Drive

(Route 193) Upper Marlboro, MD 20774This holiday drive-through event featuring more

than one million twinkling lights. Please bringcanned goods for donation to local food banks tomake a difference this holiday season.

Through January 4Gaylord National’s ICE!201 Waterfront Street, National Harbor, Md.A special interactive, 100-acre, walk-through holi-

day park featuring a winter wonderland created of 2million pounds of ice, hand sculpted by internationalartisans. This year’s theme is Frosty the Snowman.

Hot ticketsaround town

Arlington Ladies AlwaysThere

The Arlington Ladies attend fu-nerals of members of the UnitedStates armed forces buried at Ar-lington National Cemetery. Thegroup has attended nearly 30,000funerals. In 1948, Gladys Vanden-berg, wife of the Air Force Chief ofStaff Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg, notedsome funerals were held with-out any family members present.A chaplain and a military honorguard were the standard attendees.She formed a group of members ofthe Officers’ Wives Club to attendall Air Force funerals. In 1972,the Army followed suit as did theNavy in 1985. The Marines send arepresentative of the Marine Com-mandant to every funeral. Origi-nally, the women attended funer-als alone. Escorts were eventuallyadded from the Army’s 3rd InfantryRegiment. Currently, there about50 volunteers who attend an aver-

age of 70 funerals each month.

Awards Program StudiedDefense Secretary Chuck Ha-

gel has initiated a comprehensivereview of the military decorationsand awards program, seeking tocapture lessons learned from 13years of combat. The review is to becompleted by June. The review willfocus on ensuring that the awardsprogram appropriately recognizesall levels of combat valor, as well asthe service, sacrifices and actions ofall our service members, a spokes-man said. It will examine the pro-cesses and procedures of how med-als for valor are nominated in orderto determine whether they can beimproved or streamlined and helpmake the overall awards processmore timely. Some awards anddecorations are service-specific,and others cut across the military.Joint military operations have be-come the norm, as demonstrated inIraq and Afghanistan. A panel will

examine how the services decideon major combat awards, seekingto get a better sense of what dis-crepancies there may be betweenthe services.

Consumer ComplaintsThe Consumer Financial Protec-

tion Bureau accepts complaints onproblems with gift cards, benefitcards, and general purpose reload-able cards. Also, complaints aboutdebt settlement services, credit re-pair services, pawn and title loans.Go to www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint; call 855-411-2372 orwrite to CFPB, P.O. Box 4503, IowaCity, Iowa 52244

The Retiree Activities Office isopen 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Mondaythrough Friday. Visit the office inBuilding 1604 at California andColorado Avenues or call 301 981-2726. Call before your visit to ensurea volunteer is on duty. The RAO hasa website at www.andrews.af.mil.

Retiree Corner

BY COL. MAUREEN HARBACK81ST DIAGNOSTICS AND THERAPEUTICS

SQUADRON COMMANDER

It’s that time of year when holi-day parties and late night celebra-tions begin to fill our calendars andwe look forward to spending timewith family and friends to celebrateour own special reasons for the sea-son.

Every Christmas Eve, I cele-brate my life and I give thanks forbeing able to share the holiday withmy family. Nearly 30 years ago onChristmas Eve, my father, brotherand I were hit by a drunk driver.

After a busy day of last-minuteshoppers, my family and I closedour business at the mall for theevening. We were one of the lastcars to leave the parking lot andI remember being the only one onthe road. We sat patiently at a redlight waiting to cross an intersec-tion legally, even though there wasno cross traffic for as far as the eyecould see. Most travelers and shop-pers had returned home in prepa-ration for the holiday.

Meanwhile earlier that evening,a 19-year-old male left a Christ-mas Eve party after drinking. Hewas traveling on the divided high-way that ran perpendicular to theaccess road we were exiting. Thehighway patrol later estimated his

speed at more than 80 mph in a 45mph zone.

He never remembered what hap-pened that night so the sequenceof events from his point of view isspeculation. I expect he was tooimpaired to realize that the traf-fic light turned red as he couldn’thave slowed much to approach usso quickly.

As we proceeded through theintersection, turning left on thegreen signal, his vehicle suddenlyappeared on the right traveling to-ward us. Fortunately, his driver’sside front bumper only clipped theright front panel of our car, spin-ning us 180 degrees and into thegrassy median. Our seat belts, for-tunate timing, and the solid steelframework of our 1978 Chevroletstation wagon saved us from trag-edy.

Unfortunately, more than 30years later, this is still a fairly pre-dictable scenario.

Holiday drinking often leads tobuzzed and drunk driving. Moth-ers Against Drunk Driving reportsthat approximately 1,000 peopledie between Thanksgiving and NewYear’s Day each year in drunk driv-ing crashes. Hundreds more are in-jured or impacted, as we were thatnight.

As an Airman, I have the re-sponsibility to lead by example;

to drink responsibly, designate adriver and be a good wingman;however, regardless of my actions,it is not enough to ensure my fel-low citizens are following suit. As aresult, I’ve adopted some defensivedriving principles, and I am espe-cially mindful of them at this timeof year.

First, all riders wear a seat belt.Seat belts are the best defenseagainst drunk drivers. The safestplace to be in an accident is in yourvehicle and safety belts assure youstay there.

Second, avoid roadways late inthe evening and very early morn-ings, especially on holidays andweekends. More crashes occur atthese times.

Finally, when I have to travel,I pay attention. Impaired driversoften show clear signs of danger.Swerving, traveling too fast or slowfor the flow of traffic, and excessivebraking, put me on alert.

Thirty years ago, timing was onmy side. If the drunk driver hadmet us in the intersection a secondlater, the outcome may have beengrim. So, I pay it forward and askthat everyone to think before theydrink, designate a driver, have aplan and drive defensively. With aconcerted effort, we can all enjoy ahappy and healthy holiday and re-turn safely in 2015.

Commentary‘Tis the season to drink responsibly

For more news from other bases around the Washington, D.C. area,

visit www.dcmilitary.com.

Andrews GazetteFriday, December 12, 2014 3

BY BOBBY JONESSTAFF PHOTOJOURNALIST

Charles “Teddy” Richardsonis an Army veteran who hassurvived war as well as foughtpersonal battles of drug depen-dence. However, his greatestvictory is beating cancer andliving life without allowing theafter effects to affect his thriv-ing.

Now a maintenance me-chanic with the 11th Civil En-gineer Squadron, Richardson’sillness initially started out asan earache and progressed to anagging, bad cough. “It felt likesomething that was stuck inmy throat,” he said. “I couldn’tswallow and I couldn’t heaveit up.” He was sent to KaiserPermanente in Kensington,Md., for a biopsy removal andfound out he had cancer of theepiglottis in 2004. He began im-mediate radiation treatment atthe Washington Hospital Cen-ter and started chemotherapyat Kaiser in Largo, Md.

Ten years later, Richardsonnoted he is still going throughcomplications today, but haslearned a lot from having thedisease.

“As a result of the chemo-

therapy I have numbness in myright arm, my feet are tender.I feel like I’m walking on pop-corn all the time. I’ve also ex-perienced numbness on my leftside from a pinched nerve inmy neck from the radiation andchemo,” Richardson said.

“I don’t have any more thy-roids or salivary glands, and…my teeth are decaying belowthe gum line and they’re com-ing out,” he said. “The doctorstold me the medicine is worsethan the disease... along withthem trying to kill the bad cells,they destroyed a lot of the goodones,” he added.

“So it’s really been a rollercoaster ride dealing with thiscancer. But you got to keep ongoing,” Richardson said with asmile.

“You just have to alter yourlife.” He noted even with all theills of the disease he doesn’t al-low it to dampen his spirits. “Idon’t really think about it. I stillenjoy doing the job here,” saidRichardson a carpenter, electri-cian and plumber.

“They told me that I was nev-er going to be cancer free, I’mjust in remission.” Richardsonrecently had a false scare whena lesion was discovered on his

vocal cords about seven monthsago. Fortunately, the doctors di-agnosed it as benign.

Besides fostering a positiveattitude toward his health,Richardson found a love for mu-sic while in the military and hasnurtured it for more than 20years as a professional drum-mer/percussionist in the metro-politan area in his off time.

His first experience waswhen he once played with theKenilworth Knights Drum andBugle Corp in Washington,DC. He later, began backingup well-known musicians likethe legendary Blues singer,Bobby “Blue” Bland, Latimore,the Ohio Players, Harold Mel-vin and the Blue Notes, TheIntruders, Betty Wright, EnVogue, William Bell, and DonCovay. He’s even played along-side long-time friend, Robert“Mousey” Thompson, drummerfor the late “Godfather of Soul,”James Brown. He currentlyplays drums with the HardwayConnection

“Right now, I do it on the side,but when I retire from here I’mgoing to give my son one year ofcollege and call it a day and justdo music.”

Richardson also has the in-

spiration of his 93-years-oldmother to encourage him tofight against the disease. “Mymother is real ‘Old School.’ Shetold me, ‘don’t claim it [the dis-ease], just keep on rollin’,” saidRichardson. “Once you put a

tag of approval on it then it’sall over for you. The doctor’ssay I have cancer and it’s inremission, but I don’t thinkabout. The more you worryabout something the worse itbecomes.”

Cancer survivor gives philosophy on living life

PHOTO/BOBBY JONES

Charles “Teddy” Richardson, Army veteran and now a mainte-nance mechanic with the 11th Civil Engineer Squadron, uses apositive outlook for thriving after surviving epiglottal cancer.

the Veterans Treatment Courtcoming to Maryland. This spe-cialty court would be a vehiclein which a veteran could ap-pear in front of a Judge (per-haps a veteran) that has beentrained to deal with combatstress or post traumatic stressdisorder. Expressing full sup-port of the program, Peterssaid, “What is great about itis it brings the VA into thegame, which mean federal dol-lars. The great things about itthe different studies of all theveteran courts the recidivismrate in some is virtually zeropercent. Which is amazing…the average is about 30 or 40percent but when the soldierhas a mentor from veteran ser-vice groups like the AmericanLegion the DAV, Marine CorpLeague, the VFW … to kind ofbond with them and help themout through the process youcan see less state dollars andthe repeat offense is lower, wejust need to fund it.”

Later Peterson shared,“Judge Tillerson Adams saysshe is moving forward; she hasrequested $250,000 in statemoney, she believes in it andwants to move forward andshe’s been granted the author-ity to do it by the court of ap-peals. She already has a spe-cialty court, drug court, andmental health court; she wants

to wrap those together into vet-eran’s court. In order to do this,you need a champion like her.It’s not going to be a one sizefits all for every judge but aslong as we can improve educa-tion for those who might notwant to set up these courts atfirst.”

“I was very happy at theturnout for this meeting youcan see that the veteran com-munity is interested. The mainthing I saw was that veteransare not aware of the benefitsthat are here within PrinceGeorge’s County… That’s thebiggest issue that I really wantto address is to go find the

benefits here; then we need tomake sure our veterans utilizethem. With the largest con-centration of veterans in thestate of Maryland, we shouldbe leading the way with incen-tives for our veterans to notonly continue to live here butfor others to come and join us.”said Henry C. Turner Jr., whois heading the feasibility study.

Most participants expresseda satisfaction with the meeting.

Bill Milligan, Commissionerrepresenting the American Le-gion Southern District, shared,“I’m glad everyone came withan open mind with concern forveterans and veteran issues.

What better way for them toexpress it. What I like aboutit was there wasn’t anyone whosaid ‘Oh, that’s a stupid idea.’Everybody accepted everyonehas an opinion – everyone’sinput has an impact. I think itwas well done. I hope there is alocal office of Veterans Affairsestablished under the CountyExecutive and our Veteran’sCommission is put in place asan advisory.”

William L. Proctor alsoshared his satisfaction with themeeting as well as his opinionon the function of a local office.“I’d like it to do something for

the homeless issue. I’d like alocal office to help with findinghousing – a place a stay – oreven a job. I also want a lo-cal office to help with receivingour benefits without having togo through such a hard process.I plan on attending the othermeeting and talking to some ofthe other veterans on my jobthat didn’t come tonight andget them to come to the nextmeeting.”

The next meeting is sched-uled for Dec. 18 at the DisabledAmerican Veterans Chapter inBowie.

PHOTOS/LESLIE C. SMITH

Rick Parker, Commission for Veterans, leads a group discussingthe feasibility of a local Veterans Affairs office in Prince George’sCounty on last Monday. The next meeting is scheduled for Dec.18 in Bowie.

Mike Zabel, Commission for Veterans, leads a group in a dis-cussion on the need for a local Veterans Affairs office in PrinceGeorge’s County on Dec. 8.

VETERANS, from page 1

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BY MASTER SGT. TAMMIE MOOREAIR FORCE DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Air Force District of Washingtonleadership released the headquarters-level 2014 Directorate of Manpower,Personnel, and Services annual awardwinners..

“Performers were recognized at thestaff, operational, and installation lev-els,” said Celisa M. Stephens, AFDWManpower, Personnel and Services di-rector. “(We) received 73 nominationsfrom units around the world. Those73 nominations competed at variouslevels in 12 categories. The quality ofthis year’s packages was amazing, andthe competition was close in every cat-egory.”

Forty-four nominees will move for-ward to compete at Air Force level.

“All the nominees should be ex-tremely proud of their accomplish-ments,” Stephens said. “All nomineesclearly demonstrated their commit-ment to excellence by providing excep-tional leadership, innovation, and inge-nuity to improve manpower, personnel,and support services affecting Airmenand families around the world.”

The 2014 AFDW Headquarters-lev-el Manpower, Personnel, and Servicesaward winners are:

LeMay/Euband Awards:Maj. Gen. Eugene L. Eubank Award

- 707th Force Support Squadron, AirForce Intelligence, Surveillance andReconnaissance Agency

Legacy Awards:Gen. Robert J. Dixon Award - Lt.

Col. Ann Igl, U.S. Strategic CommandRoger M. Blanchard Memorial

Award - Linda Ray, U.S. NorthernCommand

Gen. Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr., MEAward - Master Sgt. Gregory Frank II,U..S. Pacific Command

Gen. Billy J. Boles MentorshipAward - James Fleming, AFISRA

Dr. Edwin C. Peterson Ed and Train-ing Award - Master Sgt. Dawn Wood-ard, AFDW

Staff Level Officer Awards:Force Support Field Grade Officer

of the Year - Maj. Charlotta Hornig,Headquarters Air Force/Vice Chief ofStaff

Force Support Company Grade Offi-cer of the Year - Capt. Bridgette Falosk,U..S. Central Command

Force Support Field Grade Officer ofthe Year, Air Reserve Command - Maj.Heather Mahowald, USSTRATCOM

Force Support Company GradeOfficer of the Year, ARC - Capt. ErinPalleres, USSTRATCOM

Operations Level OfficerAwards:

Force Support Field Grade Officer ofthe Year - Lt. Col. Teresa Darrow, AirForce Intelligence Agency

Force Support Company Grade Of-ficer of the Year - 2nd Lt. Amanda Ma-cLean, AFISRA

Installation Level OfficerAwards:

Force Support Field Grade Officer ofthe Year - Maj. Kimberly Hurd, AFDW

Force Support Company Grade Of-ficer of the Year - 1st Lt. Cory Howe,AFISRA

Staff Level Enlisted Awards:Force Support Airman of the Year

- Senior Airman Sulai Baddour, US-TRANSCOM

AFDW/A1 announcesannual award winners

BY CAPT. RENEE LEE113TH WING PUBLIC AFFAIRS

District of Columbia National Guardsoldiers and airmen kicked off a week-long subject matter expert exchangewith their Jamaican Defence Forcecounterparts Monday.

The team of wheeled vehicle main-tenance experts will spend one weekworking alongside their JDF col-leagues, also vehicle maintenance ex-perts, to share best practices and ulti-mately learn from each other.

“This mission is an opportunity forus to exchange knowledge,” said MasterSgt. Linroy Davis, vehicle maintenancesuperintendent of the 113th Wing, D.C.Air National Guard. “While workingtogether, we can offer suggestions andour JDF counterparts can also offer ussuggestions on what we can do.”

Since 1999, Jamaica and the D.C.National Guard have built on theirpartnership under the National GuardBureau’s State Partnership Program.The SPP, a security cooperation pro-gram, links U.S. states’ and territories’National Guard units with the armedforces of more than 70 partner nations.

On the first day, the Jamaican hostsprovided an overview of the JDF’s ve-hicle maintenance operations’ variousshops, including used parts, textiles,welding, carpentry, machine, and tele-communications.

Sgt. Amelia Jones Ellis, the JDFtechnical store representative of thestores shop, spent the first afternoonshowing CW2 Courtney Britton, D.C.National Guard team lead, explainingher shop’s mission. They discussed dif-ferent ways of processing inventory,while learning about similar sharedprocesses.

For some D.C. National Guard sol-diers and airmen, this visit to Jamaicais their first SPP mission. Others, likeDavis, are veterans.

“After learning about the SPP lastyear, I volunteered to support this mis-sion this year,” said Senior Airman Re-nardo Butler, 113th Wing vehicle me-chanic. “I wanted to see how our coun-terparts operate and see what we canlearn from them.”

For both SPP first-timers and veter-ans, the first day was an opportunity

to create and continue building exist-ing relationships with their Jamaicancolleagues. Touring the JDF’s variousfacilities, both the American and Ja-maican wheeled vehicle maintenanceexperts shared common knowledge andoffered insight and different perspec-tives.

The subject matter expert exchangeis an opportunity to compare our sys-tems and listen to each others’ sugges-tions, said JDF WO2 Rattray D.

“I look forward to tomorrow, whenwe’ll get our hands dirty and see howwe do.”

D.C. soldiers, airmenwork alongsideJamaican partners

U.S. AIR NATIONAL GUARD PHOTO/CAPT. RENEE LEE

Maj. Baron Mason, D.C. National GuardBilateral Affairs Officer, and Senior Air-man Renardo Butler, vehicle mechanicof the 113th Wing, D.C. Air NationalGuard, examine vehicle parts during atour of the Jamaica Defence Forceísvehicle maintenance operations at UpPark Camp. As part of the State Partner-ship Program, the D.C. National Guardteam of Air Force and Army wheeledvehicle maintenance experts are work-ing alongside their JDF counterparts toexchange information and learn fromeach other.see AWARDS, page 6

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194


be an Eagle Scout.”Barbara Waits, mother of

Marlon and Matthew Waits,shared her joy of the accom-plishments of these youngmen, “Very, very proud thatthey stuck with it and they’vedone so well. They’ve doneway more than the minimum,”pointing to the display tables,“They have so many badges –participating in inaugurationsand different parades on theNational Mall. They’ve vol-unteered at camps and havehelped younger scouts along.It exposed them to so manydifferent people. The boys havedone so well. We’re so happy.”

Jackie Foster, mother ofJelani Foster, “Long journey,long journey I’m just so over-whelmed, so proud. The spe-cial thing is they have beentogether since they were soyoung. It’s a sacrifice; of coursewhen you have children it’s nolonger about you. Every Fridaynight and some weekends,” shejoked, “I’m just so proud.

Seth Adams shared, “Istarted scouting when I was5, when I was a Cub Scout. Istarted Scouting when I was10. Usually a lot of people usu-ally reach Eagle at 15, 16; Ireached it when I was youngerbecause I did a lot of the ac-

tivities… This achievement –it’s a lot of hard work and nota lot of people get to the rankof Eagle; that’s why it’s so im-portant to me. My parents saidI’m going to get my Eagle; theyhave helped me all along theway.” The 14-year-old Central

High School student has plansto help younger Scouts reachtheir rank of Eagle.

Jelani Foster reflected onthe achievement, “I can’t takethe full credit; it’s becauseof that wonderful lady rightthere,” gazing off toward Mom,

“It feels so good; I’ve comea long way. This is like mybrother; we’ve been together10 years and just to see us allgrow and get stronger and weall achieved this goal.” Classof 2017, Foster has his sightson Lincoln University or Texas

Tech with a plan to join the AirForce.

“It’s really big to my familybecause I am the first one; noone else has earned it. My par-ents are really proud of me fortaking that big step and set-ting the example for my littlebrother; and my Dad says I’ma man now. He [Dad] couldhave done it but he didn’treally have the opportunitythen; so I’m grateful for themhelping me on this long jour-ney, 9 years. I could say I didit on my own but behind closeddoors they were the ones help-ing me with paperwork; theygot it done for me, we got itdone together. It’s not just myEagle Scout it’s theirs, it’s allof ours,” said 15-year-old Bish-op Beverly, who attends GraceBrethren Christian School.

EAGLE, from page 1

PHOTOS/LESLIE SMITH

Troop 487 elevated seven young men to the Eagle Court of Honor. With lots of hard work and dedi-cation, they achieved the honor of Eagle Scout.

David Tapscott, Chief Market-ing Officer for Combs Enter-prise, was the special guestspeaker at the Eagle Court ofHonor ceremony for Troop 487.


TREE, MENORAH LIGHT UP JBA

U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO/ J.D. MAIDENS

The Joint Base Andrews’ Christmas tree lights up the sky after theChristmas Tree and HanukkahMenorah Lighting Dec. 3 on JBA.The lighting is an annual event kicking off the holiday season.

Force Support NCO of the Year - Tech. Sgt.Michael Pritcheet, Joint Staff

Force Support SNCO of the Year - MasterSgt. Nicole Snowden, USTRANSCOM

Operational Level EnlistedAwards:

Force Support NCO of the Year - Tech. Sgt.Noah Smith, AFIA

Force Support SNCO of the Year - SeniorMaster Sgt. Tiffany Smith, Secretary of the AirForce, Internal Affairs

Installation Level Enlisted Awards:Force Support Airman of the Year - Senior

Airman Lisa Henry, AFDWForce Support NCO of the Year - Tech. Sgt.

Matthew Warden, AFISRAForce Support SNCO of the Year - Master

Sgt. Tiffany Brown, AFDWForce Support SNCO of the Year ARC -Mas-

ter Sgt. Stephen Tao, USPACOM

Staff Level Civilian Awards:Manager of the Year - Shantia Bryant, AF-

DWAction Officer of the Year - Michael Piccolo,

USNORTHCOMTechnician of the Year - Heidi Bettison, U.S.

Southern Command

Operation Level Civilian Awards:Manager of the Year - Pamela Ballard, AF-

ISRASpecialist of the Year - Jere Pace, AFISRA

Technician of the Year - April Hall, Air ForceOperational Test and Evaluation Center

Installation Level Civilian Awards:Flight Chief of the Year - Brenda Taylor, AF-

ISRASection Chief of the Year - Donna Malone,

AFDWSpecialist of the Year - Sherry Mathews, AF-

ISRATechnician of the Year - Cheryl Hickerson,

AFISRA

Team/Program Awards:A1 Special Recognition Team/Program of the

Year - Detachment 3, 786th FSS/NATOAirman & Family Readiness Center Pro-

gram of the Year - Joint Base Andrews, AFDWCivilian Personnel Program of the Year -

Defense Civilian Personnel Systems Office/AFISRA

Enlisted Professional Military Ed Team ofthe Year - Chief Master Sgt. Donald L. HarlowAirman Leadership School, AFDW

Fitness & Sports Program of the Year - JBAFitness Center, AFDW

George Washington Award for Protocol Ex-cellence - National Air and Space IntelligenceCenter Protocol Office/Air Force/Intelligence,Surveillance and Reconnaissance

Golf Program of the Year - JBA, AFDWManpower and Organization Program of the

Year - Manpower Office, AFISRANathan Altschuler Outstanding Ed and

Training Program - NASIC Director of Person-nel/AF/Intelligence, Surveillance and Recon-naissance

Youth Program of the Year - JBA, AFDW

AWARDS, from page 4

For more news from other bases around the Washington, D.C. area,

visit www.dcmilitary.com.

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