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Award winners highlight Team Dover this week, next

  • Published
  • By Col. Steven Harrison
  • 436th AW commander
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  Thank you, Team Dover, for another incredible week! We were very privileged to start the week with a special visit from the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, Rodney J. McKinley. During his time here, he toured several of our world-renowned centers of excellence, met and hosted an enlisted call, and then joined our award-winning maintainers at the Maintenance Professional of the Year Banquet. Yet another perfect start to what has already become a phenomenal 2008. As if having one of the greatest enlisted Airmen of this generation join us was not satisfying enough, Wednesday, we will be privileged to host retired Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, Robert D. Gaylor, as our guest speaker for the 2007 Annual Awards Banquet at Dover Downs on Feb. 20. Tickets are going fast!

The theme for this year's banquet is "Full-spectrum excellence; celebrating Dover's finest!" What a fitting tribute to the magnificent team that we are all privileged to be a part of at Dover Air Force Base. While we will certainly be recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of a select few at the awards ceremony, I want each and every member of Team Dover to understand that their incredible daily contributions do not go unnoticed. Twenty four hours a day, 365 days a year (366 this year), the tireless contributions of our Airmen build the mindset and the collective foundation of the world's most dominant air mobility team. Let me give you some examples.

At 10 p.m. on Sunday night, Dover's Honor Guard was present for duty. With temperatures dipping below 20 degrees, and winds gusting at nearly 50 knots, they stood side-by-side with the Army's Old Guard on the flightline returning six fallen heroes from Operation Iraqi Freedom to American soil with dignity, honor and respect. Despite 45 minutes at attention and the real potential for getting frost bite, they performed just as flawlessly as they do dozens of times a month at all hours of the day and night. Had the dignified transfer taken four hours, there is no doubt in my mind that they would have performed exactly the same, regardless of the personal toll. These are ordinary Airmen doing extraordinary work ... and they are the reason that Dover's Honor Guard, composed of Airmen from every group on base, is the finest in the Air Force.

Similarly, when those same winds lifted the metal roof off of our fitness center, security forces, safety, and civil engineers converged on the facility to secure the debris and ensure that none of our members were placed at risk. Once the winds had died down enough to allow them to safely position themselves on the roof, our tireless civil engineers worked around the clock and in freezing temperatures to enable our members to use the fitness center one day after the damage occurred.

That is the same selfless mindset that motivated the Airmen I saw cleaning up the base in the wake of the storm so that Chief McKinley would see Dover at its best, despite the challenges the weather had wrought. And it's the same dedication that drives our outstanding security forces Airmen to guard the installation without complaint regardless of the conditions; and our maintainers to launch airplanes through the middle of the night, in the rain, in the snow, and in the heat; and the list goes on and on.

Great teams need to recognize and celebrate their superstars. But superstars alone don't build great teams. The reason Dover AFB is the finest installation in the world, and the reason we're going to be able to prove it when the winner of the CINC's Installation Excellence Award is announced, is that we are home to the world's finest Airmen --professionals who make it happen every day, regardless of the challenges and regardless of whether anyone is watching.

Full-spectrum excellence built from integrity, dedication, and a winning attitude ... just one more reason Team Dover is "America's Preeminent Expeditionary Airlift Team!"