Air Force News, news from Iraq - Air Force Times

Outstanding airmen honored

The Air Force picked its best — 12 airmen, to be exact.

They come from all over — from Japan to New Mexico and points in between — and have all done amazing things, including thwarting a kidnapping and airlifting casualties out of Antarctica.

A dozen outstanding airmen have been picked every year since 1956. The 2009 winners will be honored in September at the Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition in Washington, D.C.

The airmen:

Senior Master Sgt. Mary A. Bechdel

You’re never too old to have your mom brag about you. And that’s exactly what Bechdel’s mother did after she found out her daughter was chosen. She told each of her patients at the hospital where she works.

Bechdel is the intelligence directorate superintendent for the Joint Intelligence Operations Center Europe Analytic Center at RAF Molesworth, England, overseeing five divisions and 420 personnel.

She has served 25 years, 11 as an intelligence specialist. Her first 13 years were spent as a precision measurement equipment laboratory specialist.

Tech Sgt. Manuel Herrara

An explosive ordnance technician from Scott Air Force Base, Ill., Herrara led 251 missions and captured 36 terrorists — including 19 high-value targets — while interrupting weapons flow into northern Iraq.

Herrara guided the recovery and destruction of 4,638 enemy improvised explosive devices while destroying 23 on his own. He was also assigned to protect President George W. Bush and 18 distinguished visitors on a 14-day Secret Service mission.

He earned the Bronze Star and Combat Action medals and got tapped as one of Air Mobility Command’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year.

During his off-time, Herrara organized the Kirkuk Memorial 5K Run and raised $3,000 for charity. He ran the race strapped into his bomb suit.

Tech. Sgt. Marisol Lozada

She cares for a special operator’s most valuable tool — the mind. She is stationed at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., and works at the 27th Special Operations Medical Group’s mental-health clinic.

Lozada came to the U.S. when she was 11 and didn’t speak a word of English. She joined the Air Force to serve and to get an education she otherwise could not afford. Lozada has since earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and is working on a master’s degree.

She started her career at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, where she helped mortally wounded troops spend their last hours with their families.

When Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster, head of Air Force Special Operations Command, called to tell her she was chosen, Lozada snapped to attention with the phone in her hand. She plans to share the award with the troops she treats and her team at Cannon.

“This award belongs to the flight and to the medical group, not just me,” Lozada said.

Master Sgt. John Carter

It’s becoming run of the mill for the 100th Security Forces Squadron to have an Outstanding Airman of the Year. Senior Airman Alicia Goetschel was selected last year. This year it was Carter who earned the honor.

Carter, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the 100th Squadron, was deployed to Baghdad for 210 days last year. There, he saved 60 people when he stopped a car packed with explosives. Carter also thwarted the kidnapping of an Army major, which earned him the Army Air Medal.

Over the holidays, Carter helped bring the “Toys for Tots” drive to Baghdad. He helped secure an area and hand out gifts to about 500 Iraqi children.

This isn’t the first major award for the father of three. Last year, he was named the Air Force Outstanding Security Forces Flight level NCO of the Year.

Tech. Sgt. Jennifer S. Laufer

Assigned to the 42nd Air Base Wing at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, Ala., Laufer served alongside combat medics, comforting troops as a chaplain’s assistant during her most recent deployment to Kirkuk Regional Air Base, Iraq.

Chaplain Martin S. Morgan, who was deployed with Laufer and served as a mentor, said he never worried about the mission when he was teamed with Laufer.

“Jennifer brings a passion for doing it right the first time. From customer service and care to paperwork and the mundane administrative requirements, she brings a high-energy effort 100 percent of the time,” he said.

Senior Airman Channel H. Bolton-Scholl

The only reservist selected, Bolton-Scholl volunteered last year to deploy to Christchurch, New Zealand, to support Operation Deep Freeze, which takes place in Antarctica. She helped airlift those injured in the frigid conditions from Antarctica to New Zealand.

Assigned to McChord Air Force Base, Wash., Bolton-Scholl is a crew chief performing home-station check inspections on C-17 Globemaster IIIs. She was also named the Air Force Reserve Command Airman of the Year for 2008.

When not on the flight line, Bolton-Scholl attends Willamette University in Salem, Ore., where she is pursuing a degree in business administration.

Senior Airman Alexander W. Royal

A tactical air control party journeyman, Royal deployed to Iraq, where he took part in 22 named operations and 47 raids that helped cut down enemy attacks by 15 percent. In all, he helped provide 60 hours of close-air support and electronic warfare that helped lead to the capture of 29 insurgents, four high-value targets and 200 pounds of improvised explosive materials.

Royal, assigned to the 13th Air Support Operations Squadron at Fort Carson, Colo., also won the 2009 Airman 1st Class Raymond Losano TACP Award, which recognizes the outstanding Air Force TACP Apprentice/Journeyman of the Year. He flew to the Pentagon on Feb. 24 to accept the award.

Master Sgt. Christopher Pollock

The 18th Civil Engineer Squadron superintendent of heavy repair has served for 19 years and says he enjoys working with his young troops and keeping them out of trouble while developing their careers.

“I love working with kids, the local community, and everything I have done so far was for the bettering of my people first,” he said.

Staff Sgt. Johanna Aviles

A network operations technician assigned to the West Coast Communications Support Element, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Aviles enlisted in the Air Force in January 2004. She graduated with her Community College of the Air Force associate degree in May 2008 and is an undergraduate student at American Military University.

Senior Master Sgt. Jeffery Steagall

A communications and information systems inspections manager assigned to Air Force Space Command’s Office of the Inspector General, Steagall has helped to update service nuclear inspections, which have included the installment of no-notice inspections.

The Ohio native enlisted in 1990. He is stationed at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., where he also serves as the recruiter and retention director for the local chapter of the Air Force Sergeants Association.

“I know there are probably a thousand people out there who are just as deserving to win an award like this. I feel really humbled to have been nominated, let alone to have won,” he said.

Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Horton

The second EOD technician to make up the Air Force’s top 12, Horton helped save four soldiers’ lives.

During a recent deployment to Kirkuk, Iraq, he removed the soldiers’ bodies from the wreckage of an IED attack and then cleared the landing zone for a helicopter to land safely.

He led 111 road-clearing missions in which 79 IEDs were neutralized. He was also part of a team that captured six of the top 10 terrorists in Kirkuk.

Horton got a chance to meet President Barack Obama when he was invited to the White House for the Fourth of July as one of 20 Defense Department National Heroes for Independence Day.

Master Sgt. Tyrone F. Bingham

Bingham, a member of the Nebraska Air National Guard, was also named the Air Force’s 2009 Outstanding Senior Noncommissioned Officer of the Year.

He is the chief host aviation resource manager for the 170th Group at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. Bingham is responsible for ensuring that pilots and crew members are current in all their required training and flying hours.

He recently completed a 120-day deployment to Central Command. In 2008, he deployed to Afghanistan with a C-130 from the Rhode Island Air National Guard.