12th EINS NCO Recognized for 1,000 Days in SWA AOR

By SrA. Roger Shreeve
12th EINS/DOO
Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia

There are some awards that people are proud to receive, but never go looking for. In a short ceremony recently, SSgt. Edward Keener received just that type of award. Keener was recognized for serving 1,000 days in the Southwest Asia Area of Responsibility. He was honored by the JTF-SWA Commander, Maj. Gen. Randall Schmidt, with a Letter of Appreciation and a JTF-SWA commemorative coin.

Keener is home-based out of Offutt AFB, Neb., with the 97th Intelligence Squadron. While repeatedly deployed to SWA, Keener has served as an airborne linguist, a mission evaluator, and an airborne analyst. He is part of the Rivet Joint team charged with providing force protection and imminent threat warning to coalition forces enforcing United Nations resolutions in southern Iraq.

To provide this support to OSW, RJ enlisted aircrews deploy to Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, repeatedly. Keener has 28 different deployments to support OSW, and the RJ enlisted aircrews are routinely deployed to PSAB for nearly 179 days every year.

SrA. David Kjosa, a squadron-mate of Keener at the 97th IS, described Keener as a “fun-loving guy who likes to play practical jokes on fellow flyers. However, he’s all professional and hard-working when its time to do the mission.” Kjosa should know, Keener trained him as an RJ operator.

Others agreed that Keener is a good guy to work with and a good guy to work for.

Keener accomplished what most of us hope we don’t have to -- 1,000 days in the SWA AOR.

We congratulate him for his commitment to service and dedication to duty.