26th IG honors annual award winners

By Col. Gary Selin
26th IG/CC
Ramstein Air Base, Germany

Military personnel from across Europe gathered recently at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, to honor fellow members of the 26th Intelligence Group. The event, which celebrated the accomplishments of eight of the Group’s finest, was the first of its kind held in recent memory within the 900-member organization.

The 26th IG, which is comprised of six squadrons -- 26th ISS, 402nd IS, 426th IS, 451st IS, 485th IS, and 488th IS -- located throughout Germany and the United Kingdom, is a multidisciplined information operations organization building and maintaining information operations capabilities for the European Theater.

As the Air Intelligence Agency’s sole component in Europe, the 26th IG is a unique asset with peacetime, exercise, and wartime operational roles in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Recently, the members of the 26th IG came together to honor their annual award winners.

The day was marked with a mid-day banquet at the Ramstein Officer’s Club. Representatives from each squadron and three of their associated detachments were in attendance to toast their team members’ accomplishments.

The USAFE Honor Guard opened the festivities which featured insightful and motivating remarks from the guest speaker, Command Chief Master Sergeant Donald Hatcher.

The Chief began by highlighting the many challenges facing Air Force members today. He then focused on the pride we all feel in serving on a front-line team of professionals.

The spotlight soon shifted to the real reason for the event ... to honor eight exceptional performers, whose work throughout the year contributed to the success of the AIA mission. The 488th IS dominated the day by winning six of the eight award categories.

Leading the way for the 488th was Senior Airman Timothy King who was honored as the 1998 26th IG’s Airman of the Year.

King set the example throughout the year by providing flawless information management services to 13 offices and 80 personnel in the logistics flight at AIA’s busiest airborne unit. He developed the flight’s first ever, computerized EPR, feedback, decoration, and manning reports, resulting in a 100 percent on-time rate for both EPRs and decorations.

The next honoree was Tech. Sgt. Mark Connell, who was selected as the Group’s 1998 NCO of the Year.

Connell’s outstanding leadership skills led to him being handpicked last year to become the senior military COMSEC staff analyst at the 402nd IS. He successfully reduced COMSEC violations and contributed to the safe conduct of Operation JOINT GUARD’s close air support missions, as well as national-level VIP visits to, from, and within the European theater. True to his form, Connell was unable to attend the event because he was deployed - doing what won him the award in the first place!

Focus shifted back to the 488th as Master Sgt. James Moore Jr. was named the Group’s 1998 Senior NCO of the Year.

Moore, who leads a 14-person work center, was responsible for an ambitious local area network installation and upgrade resulting in a 200 percent increase in network performance flow of unit critical communications. His innovative use of local resources throughout the project saved $25,000 in CONUS TDY costs. This was not Moore’s first time in the spotlight - earlier in the year he was selected as the 26th IG’s 1998 Lt. Gen. Leo Marquez award winner in the Senior NCO category.

Continuing his unit’s domination, the 488th’s Capt. Frank Von Heiland was named as the 26th IG’s Company Grade Officer of the Year.

Von Heiland was handpicked in 1998 to stand up the first ever Headquarters, Stabilization Force (SFOR), Combined Chief of Intelligence Branch, Information Operations Liaison Officer position in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He provided reports including one passed directly to the SFOR commander, and used to drive discussions with the United Nation’s High Commissioner and the three presidents of the Bosnian-Herzegovinan Tripartite.

The 488th’s winning streak was interrupted briefly when Master Sgt. Frank Romero of the 402nd IS was named as the Group’s 1998 First Sergeant of the Year.

Romero’s achievements in 1998 can be summed up by the adage, “Your people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” He brought Air Force discipline and values back to his geographically separated unit. He implemented a floor superintendent mentorship program to refocus enlisted leadership on the Air Force core values and initiated a “First Five” organization to give his junior airmen a new voice in the squadron.

Also showing how much she cares was Valerie Fioretta, the 488th command secretary, who was honored as the 26th IG’s 1998 Civilian of the Year.

Fioretta expertly coordinated DV visits from the acting Secretary of the Air Force, the AETC commander, and AIA’s, Maj. Gen. John Baker. She unselfishly took care of other squadron members by writing and submitting a volunteer of the quarter package on a squadron spouse and developing briefings for spouses of members deployed for Operations SKY ANVIL and DESERT FOX. Fioretta’s dedication and motivation is a credit to AIA and the USAF.

The team spirit demonstrated throughout the banquet by the men and women of the 488th could not be stifled. Choruses of “4 - 88” continued as the next two awards went to 488th IS personnel. These two awards were for recognition areas newly created by the 26th IG to acknowledge and reward junior and senior technicians for the outstanding accomplishment of their primary duties.

The first of the new awards, Junior Technician of the Year, was awarded to Senior Airman Anthony Langley. An expert in his duties, Langley became the first and only pipeline student to qualify as lead operator. He was selected by the unit commander well ahead of his peers and NCO’s as an Instructor Rated Operator and mission evaluator for lead and backup for his position. A model of “service before self,” he deployed on short notice to Souda Bay, Greece, in support of planned strikes on Kosovo Serbs.

The final award, Senior Technician of the Year, went to Staff Sgt. Eddie Beasley Jr.

Beasley is noted for building a Standardization and Evaluation Program from the ground up. His program was noted as the “best Stan/Eval Program within the special operations group” during a recent evaluation and garnered an “outstanding” rating during the HQ AFSOC aircrew Stan/Eval Team visit. His program filled both 352nd SOG and 488th IS requirements and won him a “Professional Performer” award during the 488th IS MEI.

Whether it be deploying to less-than-desirable locations to perform the mission or organizing a dorm cleanup, the men and women of the 26th IG are up to the task; the eight individuals honored for their work epitomize that spirit and dedication. This event was the first in what will surely become a long 26th IG tradition.