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Hanscom team members honored with DOD, Air Force awards

  • Published
  • By K. Houston Waters
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – In November, multiple Hanscom-based teams and individuals were recognized for excellence in leadership, acquisition, engineering, information dominance, and safety.

Winners included representatives of the 66th Air Base Group, the Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence and Networks Directorate, and the Digital Directorate, all headquartered here. Awards were at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Air Force Materiel Command, and Air Force Life Cycle Management Center levels.

From the 66th Air Base Group, Shaun Bassett was recognized as the AFMC and AFLCMC Safety Civilian Professional of the Year.

As the Hanscom Occupational Safety and Health Manager during fiscal year 2021, Bassett managed a $5 billon occupational safety program for over 10,000 Guard, Reserve, and Department of Defense civilian personnel across a seven-state region. He led his team of safety professionals through successful inspections, improved training programs, and secured $27,000 of additional safety training funds, allowing for 49 additional training courses totaling 664 hours for the safety team, all in an effort to preserve combat capabilities and resources, and to protect lives.

Additionally, the 66th Air Base Group won the AFMC and AFLCMC Chief of Safety Outstanding Achievement for Occupational Safety Award for their safety management support of 226 individual work areas.

In fiscal year 2021, the safety team joined forces with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Hanscom Education Center, and other federal agencies, to connect 56 members with a number of training resources, including three in-house OSHA Outreach courses. Through efforts such as this, the team achieved a 57 percent mishap reduction in several categories; the lowest in five years.   

For C3I&N, 1st Lt. Alexa Reed was named the AFLCMC Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Research and Development Award recipient; the Multifunctional Information Distribution System Joint Tactical Radio System, or MIDS JTRS, “Could Not Duplicate” Tiger Team won the Air Force Science and Engineering Award for Exploratory or Advanced Technology Development; and the contracting branch of the Special Programs Division won the Larry Kabase Memorial Award for Excellence in Classified Contracting.

Additionally, Col. Shane Louis, senior materiel leader, Aerial Networks Division, was named the AFLCMC Boss of the Year. Louis views this award as a win for everyone in the Aerial Networks Division and credits the division motto “HNA . . . Leads the Way!” as the philosophy that drives them to success.

“I try to challenge our division to think what leading the way really means,” he said. “It means different things to different people, but to me it’s a challenge to be a good wingman, to be at the forefront of diversity and inclusion, to be physically fit, and to practice community service. All of that equals pride in yourself, your unit, and your work product, which leads to accomplishing our mission, which is to deliver the highest quality capabilities to our warfighters.”  

According to Louis, personnel in the Aerial Networks Division have been hard at work this year with advancing open mission systems, fielding software defined radios, and purchasing new E-11A aircraft in support of the Battlefield Airborne Communication Node, or BACN, fleet.

Additionally, the Aerial Network Division’s Full Motion Video Extension and Unified Relay, or FEURY, team won the Air Force Gen. Edwin W. Rawlings Team Award for information dominance. FEURY provides high-quality video and operational data to senior leaders in multiple operating locations across the globe.

For Digital, Adam Kelly, program manager, Detachment 12, also known as Kessel Run, was named AFLCMC Outstanding Civilian in Category III.

During fiscal year 2021, Kelly was recognized for directing Kessel Run’s DevSecOps acquisition, contracting, financial management and comptroller portfolio. During this time, he managed Command and Control operations programs for 66,000 users, supporting the fielding of the C2 Incident Management Emergency Response Application, or C2IMERA, at dozens of military installations worldwide. He also directed 20 personnel in support of evacuating 132,000 Afghan refugees.

“This award truly belongs to the multiple teams that I've been blessed to work with - extraordinary people making a difference in the lives of aircraft maintainers, flight crews, emergency response and C2 personnel, as well as Afghan refugees,” he said. “I couldn't be more proud of everyone's dedication to serving their country, delivering capability to our users, and supporting numerous refugees in their pursuit of a better life.”

Additional winners from Digital included the Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar, or 3DELRR, team, which won the David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award at the OSD level, and the Communications Network Upgrade Team, which won the Outstanding AFLCMC Fall Forward Team Award.

Capt. Maurice Morrell and Tech. Sgt. Cory Bowman were also named the AFLCMC General John P. Jumper Award for Excellence in Warfighting Integration award winners in both the officer and enlisted categories, and Michelle McCarthy and Capt. Ryan Torno were named Outstanding AFLCMC Program Management Award winners, in ACAT III and S-CAT IV/V categories, respectively.

Capt. George Michalke III was named Outstanding AFLCMC Acquisition Manager, and Capt. Matthew Ruden was named Outstanding Acquisition Staff Officer.