Moody MEO office earns top AF honors

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Eric Schloeffel
  • 23rd Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  The 23rd Wing Military Equal Opportunity office dedication to teamwork and adapting to new principles recently paid off as they garnered top Air Force honors in both group and individual categories. 

The office won the 2006 Air Force Military Equal Opportunity Small Office of the Year award and Tech. Sgt. Joseph Newton was named the 2006 Air Force MEO NCO of the Year at the base level. 

"The office award serves as a crowning moment because two of three staff members are retired now," said MEO Chief, Sergeant Newton. "It is a feather in their cap and allows them to leave the career field on top." 

Both Chief Master Sgt. Joseph Lovett and Master Sgt. William Crews have held their retirement ceremonies and are no longer performing MEO duties, but the award recognizes efforts during their time at the office. The award was the second time in two years 23rd Wing MEO took top honors. 

"I attribute the success to us having a passion for what we do," said Chief Lovett. "We never became stagnant and always wanted to improve processes to find a better way of accomplishing our mission. Even though we were about to retire, Sergeant Crews and I never kicked back and just took it easy. We always wanted to put out the best product we could." 

Part of their success comes from remaining vigilant for possible problems and constantly progressing MEO tactics, said Sergeant Crews. 

"When we won the award last year, we were doing well but not as well as we could be," he said. "So we focused on improving processes as far as helping individuals before an issue became a major complaint or conflict. We implemented pro-active procedures and ensured we got out and talked to the people on-base." 

By keeping this philosophy, the office stayed on the cutting edge of MEO practices and accomplished one of the Air Force's goals of "working smarter, not harder." One example of these efforts includes working closely with the Equal Employment Opportunity office, which works to address civilian complaints. The two offices typically function as entirely separate entities. 

"Just like most other Air Force career fields, MEO has had its (Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century) events," said Chief Lovett. "In our case, the Air Force wanted to transition to have MEO and EEO work together. But we were already doing this, and it's obviously paying dividends." 

Along those same lines, Sergeant Crews' work with the civilian aspect of the mission earned him a spot as one of only 35 Air Force members to work in the Compressed Orderly Rapid Equitable process. The process is a pilot-program created to help streamline the civilian complaint process, and Sergeant Crews was sent to mediate the first case at Tinker Air Force Base, Calif. 

"Not a lot of MEO offices have people involved in programs like CORE," said Chief Lovett. "It gives us a more diverse framework, and the Air Force recognizes that." 

But overall, the office could not accomplish the feat of winning two consecutive years without a sense of teamwork which helped provide the trio with a positive feeling when arriving to work each day, said Sergeant Crews. 

"We were really a great team, and our personalities complimented each other," he said. "It was more of a family atmosphere, and it's been that way ever since I started working at Moody." 

Sergeant Newton feels his personal success was also helped by office camaraderie as well as outstanding support from base-level leadership, he said. 

"We all work together as a cohesive team, and I think that really helped contribute to my individual success," said Sergeant Newton. "When I talked to other people in my career field, I find they often have resistance from their wing leadership concerning their programs. I've been blessed to have such great leadership to work with at Moody - from first sergeants, squadron and group commanders, and all the way up to the wing commander." 

Sergeant Newton has also took on many additional duties to include completing the Inspector General and the Additional Duty First Sergeant courses, and dedicates his off-duty time to education and community involvement, said Chief Lovett. 

"He fulfilled all the roles of MEO in a very short time - from MEO technician work to performing the tasks of an MEO chief," he said. "He has the whole package, which includes outstanding work performance and maintaining a positive Air Force image when off-duty as well." 

As Sergeant Newton prepares for a new assignment in July to Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Moody's entire award-winning MEO office will be replaced by an entirely new staff. However, they hope the successes the office earned at Moody will continue into the future, said Sergeant Crews. 

"The dynamics of the office are obviously going to change soon since none of us will be here," he said. "But I hope with the standards we set forth here, the office will continue to improve processes and once again be declared No. 1 in the Air Force."