23rd CES Operations Flight earns special recognition

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Brigitte Brantley
  • 23rd Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  The 23rd Civil Engineer Squadron Operations Flight recently earned special recognition in the Commander-in-Chief's Installation Excellence Award for 2009.

In addition to this recognition, the flight also led the emergency flood response Valdosta, Ga., in April and is continuously working on various projects focused on improving quality of life at Moody.

In order to earn the recognition for the award, the award package nominating them had to contain strong evidence showing achievements geared toward helping maintain military installations.

"I'd say one of our strongest achievements was being the first in Air Combat Command to make use of the water main valve insertion tool," said Senior Master Sgt. Brian Loisel, 23rd Civil Engineer Squadron operations superintendent. "By employing it, we eliminated the requirement to shut water sources off while fixing a part of the system. This was a huge step forward in being able to work on projects and not have other parts of the mission affected.

"Another outstanding achievement is that we ensured all requirements were met for the first active duty transfer of the A-10C Thunderbolt IIs during the 2007 Base Realignment and Closure movement," Sergeant Loisel added. "It was ACC's largest BRAC program and included 262 projects."

Operations Flight personnel also excelled during recent deployments, completing 225 missions in support of the Global War on Terrorism.

According to the award package, their feats while deployed included training 5,000 Afghani police to be self-sustaining, which results in an increase in regional stability. They also helped eliminate utility and electrical hazards and helped construct a helicopter static discharge grid at Balad Air Base, Iraq, which protected $2.5 billion in assets.

While ensuring success overseas, the flight also helped protect Valdosta when severe weather struck the area in April.

"During the storms, 50 of our Airmen moved more than 10,000 sandbags in two days," said Sergeant Loisel. "Their actions helped save local sewage plants from flooding. We prevented many people from going weeks without running water and other utilities."

Responsible for 2.8 million square feet in more than 820 on-base facilities, the operations flight is also continuously improving working conditions on Moody through on-going projects.

The award package also states the flight upgraded the dining facility's heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, enhancing that facility's service capability for 1,200 patrons and cut maintenance by 33 percent, saving $6,000 a year.

"Even with the high deployment rate, our Airmen and civilian employees manage to keep a stellar customer satisfaction rate of 98 percent," said Master Sgt. Eric McAlister, 23rd CES heavy repairs superintendent. "With 30 to 40 percent of our Airmen deployed at any time, our civilian employees are a vital part of our operations and of our continued success.

"The operations flight is filled with hard-working personnel dedicated to the mission. They truly go above and beyond and it's astonishing what they can get accomplished in just a short amount of time."

Because of this positive work ethic, many individuals from the unit have won numerous accolades at various levels, including two selected who were chosen for below-the-zone promotions, one who earned the ACC CES Senior Noncommissioned Officer of the Year Award, another who earned the Air Force/Department of Education Energy Manager of the Year Award and 26 additional individuals who won various awards at the 23rd Mission Support Group, the 23rd Wing and the Air Expeditionary Wing levels.

For four consecutive years, from 2004 to 2007, the flight won the Cliffton D. Wright Award, which recognizes the best civil engineer squadron operations flight in the Air Force.

"The flight does an outstanding job of catching the minor problems so they don't escalate," said Sergeant McAlister. "They're highly skilled, they're extremely motivated and they don't stop when the job they are tasked with is done."