GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, TX -- Goodfellow Air Force Base’s 17th Communications Squadron was recently awarded two Air Education and Training Command awards.
Among the awards received was one individual AETC-level winner, Tech. Sgt. Charles Walker.
Walker, a 17th CS plans and programs section chief, won the 2018 AETC Outstanding Cyber Operations Noncommissioned Officer award for his sustained superior performance and contributions that benefited the Air Force and DoD missions and operations.
“I have been fortunate enough to serve alongside some the best warfighters our military has produced in recent history,” Walker said. “These phenomenal Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen consistently pushed me and accepted nothing less than excellence. This award should not say “TSgt Charles Walker,” but rather the names of the brothers and sisters in arms who cared enough to forge and mentor me, both personally and professionally.”
The other AETC award won by the 17th CS was the Air Force Major General Harold M. McClelland award. This award recognizes Air Force information dominance cyberspace groups or squadrons with 126 or more manpower authorizations.
“The CommBats earned this award because of the hard work and dedication of our big A Airmen, each and every day,” said Maj. David Cote, 17th CS commander. “They understand how they fit into, and enable, the 17th Training Wing and Air Force mission of training premier Joint ISR and Fire professionals.”
In 2018, members of the 17th CS worked together with the 17th Training Group and the 17th Training Support Squadron to improve network optimization.
“Network optimization is the process of maximizing the speed, efficiency and reliability of network assets,” said 2nd Lt. Frederick Stephens, 17th CS mission defense officer in-charge. “Behind the curtain of abstraction, computer networks are built on physical hardware and programmed rules that dictate how they function.”
Additionally, the 17th CS acted as a testbed squadron for AETC’s Cyber Operations Airmen Transition program.
“We had a cyber surety Airman who had a unique talent in server administration,” Cote said. “When an opportunity came down to allow Airmen to transition to a new cyberspace operations Air Force Specialty Code, it was a no brainer and we immediately sent forward this Airman to compete. Once we were selected, the real work began as we became a key player of planning the Cyber Operations Airmen Transition program for the rest of the Air Force. The conversion is underway and this Airman is excelling in his new AFSC!”
The 17th CS was also selected to be a pilot squadron to field a unique patching capability for AETC. Most amazing, they did all this with reduced manning due to deployments.
“While deployments are essential to meeting national mission objectives and to the development of our Airmen, it’s never easy when a portion of your unit is forward deployed ,” Cote said. “Instilling the “Next person up” mentality, innovating, continuous process improvement, and cross functional teaming is how we’ve been able to successfully, and consistently, deliver mission assurance to the 17th Training Wing.”