PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - The North American Aerospace Defense Command and U. S. Northern Command named their annual awards
winners during a luncheon Feb. 22 at the
Peterson Air Force Base Enlisted Club. More than 300 personnel attended the ceremony at which the Air Force Band, Rocky Mountain Blue, provided entertainment. Navy Adm. Timothy Keating, the commander of NORAD-USNORTHCOM, officiated.
The selection process began with nominations submitted to NORAD-USNORTHCOM Personnel Division during the first week of January. A board met to evaluate each nomination and score the packages. Nominees were evaluated on leadership and job performance, self-improvement and base and community
involvement.
In addition to the package review, all military nominees met an oral board. Members answered questions relevant to NORAD and USNORTHCOM. Scores were based on job performance and how well the nominees answered the board's questions, as well as on their communication skills and overall appearance. U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. D. Scott Frye, command sergeant major for NORAD-USNORTHCOM, said the caliber of the nominees was a "parade of stars." Selecting a winner was "awful hard to do," he said.
The board submitted its first place choices to Keating, who approved the selections. During the luncheon, Keating said the award winners are leading the way and "raising the bar for the rest of us."
NORAD Junior Enlisted Member
Senior Airman John Reeves, U.S. Air Force, is an air simulation builder with the exercise branch at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station. Reeves efficiently processed 120 NORAD air tracks, of which 84 required immediate tactical action. Additionally, Reeves was responsible for the training of 42 Air Warning Center crewmembers and the initial training of six new crewmembers.
USNORTHCOM Junior Enlisted Member
Airman 1st Class James Mason, U.S. Air Force, is a computer systems operator assigned to the information systems helpdesk located at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station. He is responsible for system administration on the 85 million dollar NORAD-USNORTHCOM Intelligence System, which supports over 953 users at 18 geographically separated locations. Mason was also selected as USNORTHCOM Junior Enlisted of the Quarter for the Second Quarter 2004.
NORAD Non-Commissioned Officer
Tech. Sgt. Elvin Sanders, U.S. Air Force, is the noncommissioned officer in charge of command promotions and officer/enlisted professional military education for the headquarters of NORAD-USNORTHCOM. Sanders implemented a new Air Force officer professional military education selection process, which eliminated major commands from screening eligibles. He guided senior leadership through ten promotion boards with over 400 personnel eligible for promotion. In addition, Sanders integrated 200 Armed Forces Inaugural Committee members to USNORTHCOM control and established personnel accounting symbol codes.
USNORTHCOM Non-Commissioned Officer
Tech. Sgt. David Isabelle, U.S. Air Force, is the superintendent of the Commander's Action Group for the headquarters of NORAD-USNORTHCOM and is responsible for providing information management support. He was selected as the personal driver and office assistant during Adm. Keating's transition period. Isabelle also orchestrated the translation of the bi-national command briefing for visiting leaders from Thailand, Israel, Mexico, Japan, Germany and Poland.
USNORTHCOM Non-Commissioned Officer (Reserve)
Tech. Sgt. Xochitl Thell, U.S. Air Force Reserve, is an intelligence analyst at the headquarters of NORAD and USNORTHCOM, where she serves as a reserve manpower assistant. Thell developed and implemented a tracking database for all reserve personnel assigned to the NORAD-USNORTHCOM intelligence directorate, which allowed for more efficient oversight of reserve personnel. She recently completed the Non-Commissioned Officer School at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.
NORAD Senior Non-Commissioned Officer
Senior Master Sgt. Angel Diaz, U.S. Air Force, is the superintendent of the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station Command Center. While serving as the superintendent of the Cheyenne Mountain Command Center he was the primary senior enlisted leader for over 250 personnel. Diaz expertly managed the Command Center's diverse operation activities and he assured the efficient interaction between higher headquarters and three air defense regions with five sectors and over 50 units worldwide.
USNORTHCOM Senior Non-Commissioned Officer
Senior Master Sgt. Gene Earley, Jr., U.S. Air Force, is the superintendent of the vulnerability assessments in the directorate of operations. Earley led the production of an integrated risk analysis in the form of a threat and vulnerability assessment product for the presidential inauguration. In addition, he serves as the current president of the USNORTHCOM Senior Enlisted Council.
USNORTHCOM Senior Non-Commissioned Officer (Reserve)
Master Sgt. Kimberly Guidry, U.S. Air Force Reserve, is the reserve personnel coordinator for Joint Task Force Civil Support, Fort Monroe, Va. She was hand-picked to lead the first-ever deployable joint reserve program for homeland defense at Joint Task Force Civil Support under the direction of USNORTHCOM. Guidry is responsible for all five service reserve components and their programs.
NORAD Company Grade Officer
Lt. Norman Everett, Canadian Naval Forces, provides intelligence support to information operations at the headquarters of NORAD-USNORTHCOM. He was instrumental in providing the battle staff with timely and realistic assessments of information vital to NORAD operations, including a daily intelligence support assessment to the operational staff. Everett was awarded the Headquarters, NORAD-USNORTHCOM Company Grade Officer of the Quarter for the Second Quarter 2004.
NORAD Company Grade Officer (Reserve)
Capt. Mark Bortiatynski, U.S. Air Force Reserve, is an F-16C aircraft commander assigned to the NORAD headquarters operations branch as deputy chief, fighter duty operations, Peterson Air Force Base. Bortiatynski developed extensive computer checklists and training plans for fighter interceptor duty officers and served as the NORAD "ambassador" for combined military and civilian events at a national homeland security conference.
USNORTHCOM Company Grade Officer
Capt. Steven Harding, U.S. Air Force, is the chief of the logistics and maintenance branch for the NORAD-USNORTHCOM intelligence systems division. He was a key player in the stand-up of the Defense Information Agency Western Continental U.S. Regional Service Center, where he led the efforts to consolidate enterprise computer services to five centers worldwide. He engineered and installed Joint Executive Video System (JEVS) upgrades, which directly connected the commander of USNORTHCOM and the Secretary of Defense with high availability secure video teleconferencing. In addition, he oversaw a 2 million dollar server and network storage consolidation, which is now a key site in the Air Force disaster recovery program.
USNORTHCOM Company Grade Officer (Reserve)
Capt. Ramona Montgomery, U.S. Air Force Reserve, is an exercise development officer assigned to NORAD-USNORTHCOM headquarters intelligence exercise and training branch. She led the development of a first-ever exercise concept of operations to realistically replicate the law enforcement and counter-intelligence processes. Montgomery also supervised production of all intel support products to meet ballistic missile defense training needs.
NORAD Civilian (Category I)
Donna Crump is the secretary for the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center director of staff. She developed the CMOC calendar briefing slides and she reviews all CMOC correspondence prior to approval by the director of staff and coordination with the CMOC commander. In addition, Crump researched and created the first comprehensive update to the CMOC organization chart in more than two years.
USNORTHCOM Civilian (Category I)
Bethany Rockney is the protocol assistant assigned to command protocol at the headquarters of NORAD-USNORTHCOM. With a shortage of protocol officers to execute events associated with the NORAD-USNORTHCOM change of command, she immediately stepped in to assist the primary action officer and was responsible for other duties associated with the change of command. Rockney is currently working on her masters degree in public administration with the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
NORAD Civilian (Category II)
Angela Irvin has been the administrative assistant to the NORAD operations director since 1998. Irvin's wealth of cooperate knowledge on NORAD issues, policies and procedures is unprecedented. She is the directorate's resident expert on official correspondence and reviews everything the director or vice director signs. Irvin serves as the single point of contact for director and vice director travel arrangements and maintains an annual travel budget of 15 thousand dollars.
USNORTHCOM Civilian (Category II)
Richard Morales is the procurement manager for the joint communication support center configuration at the headquarters of NORAD-USNORTHCOM. Morales completely revamped the management of wireless devices to include upgrades for blackberry, cell phones and pagers. Additionally, he implemented a buy back plan to upgrade all flag officer electronic mobile devices with more current wireless technology.