A look back at 2015 at Wright-Patterson AFB Published Jan. 8, 2016 By Amy Rollins Skywrighter Staff WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Editor's Note: Throughout 2015, there were many significant milestones achieved by numerous organizations across Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Below is a compilation of some of the milestones, events, awards and major accomplishments that contributed to the overall success of our missions. Milestones · Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski assumes leadership of Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) on June 8. She is the ninth AFMC commander since AFMC stood up on July 1, 1992, and is the third female four-star general in the service branch's history. She replaces former commander Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger who retires after 35 years of service. Events · Celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the end of the war in Bosnia are held, reminding the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base community that it served as the location for the Dayton Peace Accords. · The 2015 Air Force Marathon on Sept. 19 and accompanying races are held for the 19th time; the turnout of many thousands of people running in and supporting the races brings together base personnel and community volunteers. The AF Marathon Office unveils a new logo honoring its 35 Stars - runners who have completed every race since the event started in 1997. New Faces Commands assumed: · Maj. Gen. Warren Berry, AFMC vice commander · Col. Elena Oberg, 88th Air Base Wing (88 ABW) vice commander · Col. Rick Johns, 88th Communications Group (88 CG) commander · Lt. Col. Brian Snyder, 88th Communications Squadron (88 CS) commander · Col. David Kretz, 88th Mission Support Group (88 MSG) commander · Brig. Gen. Cameron Holt, Air Force Installation Contracting Agency commander Awards/Recognition · Dr. Onome Scott- the Air Force's nominee for the 2015 National Public Service Award. · Tatiana Matta is named Wright-Patterson AFB's 2015 Military Spouse of the Year. The Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year award, founded by Military Spouse magazine in 2008 to honor military spouses of all ranks and from all branches of service, recognizes military spouses' important contributions and unwavering commitment to the military community and the nation. · Ken Charles, chief of cost analysis, 88 ABW Financial Management Office, is awarded the Air Force Non-Acquisition Cost Analyst of the Year. · The Services Flight and Personnel Support for Contingency Operations Team, 445th Force Support Squadron, 445th Airlift Wing (445 AW), wins first place in the 2015 Air Force Reserve Command Force Support Silver Flag Readiness Competition, held at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia, March 10-12. · A teen member of the Prairies Youth Center, Rowan Goble, wins the Boys & Girls Clubs of America's Ohio Military Youth of the Year Award. · Dr. Bryant Wysocki, chief engineer, Information Directorate, AFRL, wins the Engineer of the Year Award at the 65th annual Mohawk Valley Technical Awards banquet April 23. · The Global Hawk Division at Wright-Patterson AFB receives the 2014 Dr. James G. Roche Sustainment Excellence Award April 28. The award recognizes the AFMC aircraft system program office that demonstrates the most improved performance in fleet sustainment for a given fiscal year. · Lt. Gen. Wendy Masiello, Defense Contract Management Agency director, Fort Lee, Virginia, and Maj. Gen. Thomas Masiello, AFRL commander, are awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor May 9 at a ceremony on Ellis Island in New York City, New York. The medal is an award founded by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations which pays homage to the immigrant experience and the contribution made to America by immigrants and their children. · Amanda Gentry, science and technology lead for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program since 2011, is one of six individual recipients of the 2015 Tibbetts Award for her exemplary role in the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. · Patsy Reeves, a member of the Senior Executive Service and the executive director of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), along with Dr. Richard Lindeman, a member of the scientific and professional cadre of senior executives and the chief scientist, Information Directorate, AFRL, are chosen for the 2014 Presidential Distinguished Rank Award. Only 1 percent of the SES corps is eligible for the award. (June 12, A3) · Stacy Gatling, who is legally blind, is named the Air Force's winner of the 2015 Outstanding Department of Defense Employee with Disability Award. She is the executive secretary for AFRL's Directed Energy Directorate. · Senior Airman Meaghan Holley of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) is named one of the Air Force's Top 12 Airmen of the Year July 27. · Lynda Rutledge, program executive officer for Agile Combat Support, AFLCMC, is honored Oct. 8 as the Department of Defense Distinguished National Civilian of the Year by Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work. · 88 CG and two Airmen at Wright-Patterson AFB are among several units and individuals to receive the 2015 Gen. John P. Jumper Air Force Information Dominance Awards at the AFMC level. · Alan Fletcher of the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, AFRL, is awarded the Command Civilian Award for Valor for his role in a July 2014 automobile accident in which he persuaded a woman to return to her car for safety reasons. He was struck by a van and suffered extensive injuries from which he is still recovering. Partnerships · A certificate of education exchange is signed by Col. John Devillier, 88 ABW commander, and Dr. Steven Johnson, Sinclair Community College president and CEO. The exchange is part of an Air Force community partnership program that allows installation agencies and community leaders to develop ways to share capabilities and resources. · A new agreement is signed May 1 at Wright-Patterson AFB in an effort to dramatically improve the timeliness of medical care to veterans throughout Ohio and optimize the training and readiness of personnel at the WPMC. The Buckeye Federal Healthcare Consortium is charged to optimize the utilization of Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs (VA) medical resources in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. The agreement allows the VA to send veterans to WPMC for specialty care. · The Wright-Patterson AFB Partnership Program holds an internship fair Feb. 19 for students and employers throughout the Dayton and Ohio regions. The program is an Air Force initiative through which agencies on the installation and public/private sector community leaders can develop ways to leverage their capabilities and resources to reduce costs or risks by finding shared value. Information is available at www.wpafb.af.mil/communitypartnership.asp/. Community Engagement Wright-Patterson AFB is the community and the community is Wright-Patterson AFB. Wright Patt Airmen from across the base provide thousands of volunteer hours to various private and public organizations and schools throughout the area. Our community partners reciprocate and provide tremendous support in countless ways through military appreciation events at local universities, sporting events, and arts and culture venues. Events such as Hometown Heroes with the Dayton Dragons, major league football, baseball, and hockey sporting events, NCAA collegiate games, including the First Four Hoopla, performing arts at the Victoria Theater and Schuster Center and the Dayton Performance Arts Alliance, and leading new recruits in their oath of enlistment at various venues, have become a staple of Miami Valley. Construction/Facilities · Wright-Patterson AFB earned a silver-level award under the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's Encouraging Excellence program. The program awards organizations that reduce waste, improve efficiency and continuously work to improve environmental standards of compliance. Base environmental actions include a recycling program that prevents more than 1,500 tons of solid waste from being shipped to landfills. · Upgrades are made to Gate 12A that improve the security of the base. · Wright-Patterson AFB partners with the Propolis Project LLC, Levin Family Foundation, to place four hives of Apis melliflera carnica bees on Huffman Prairie during an event that is part of Pollinator Week, observed June 15-21. · NASIC breaks ground June 19 on a $29.5 million, 58,000-square-foot addition for its foreign materiel exploitation laboratory that will provide the U.S. with a better understanding of potential adversary capabilities. · The completion of a $99 million renovation project at the Wright-Patterson Medical Center (WPMC) is celebrated July 31 and provides substantial improvements to patient care and staff efficiency. · A new playground is dedicated and unveiled in a ceremony Aug. 26 behind Fisher House II. The playground and landscaping project mean juvenile patients or the children of patients seeking treatment at the WPMC have a safe place to be active and let off steam. · The North American X-15A is moved from the NMUSAF restoration hangar to the museum's new fourth building. The X-15A becomes the first aircraft to be moved into the new building, where it is part of the expanded Space Gallery. · AFRL's Department of Defense Supercomputer Resource Center (AFRL DSRC)at Wright-Patterson AFB adds a third supercomputer to its Information Technology Complex on Area B. The $30 million Silicon Graphics Incorporated ICE X supercomputer "Thunder" is the 21st fastest high-performance computing system in the world. It joins two other large systems, "Spirit" and "Lightning" already located at the AFRL DSRC. Education · Wright-Patterson AFB continues its strong support of FIRST Lego League, as the Educational Outreach Office is the FLL tournament leader in Ohio, overseeing the statewide program and sponsoring and running the Ohio State Championship. The office provides enrichment in activities related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics to Dayton-area students. Teams of students work to build and program a robot to complete a number of tasks in an allotted amount of time. · Quarterly Focus Week trainings offer free continued professional and personal development. · AFIT tests Airmen's cyberskills during a "Hackfest" competition in August. Cadets in the Advanced Cyber Education Program are encouraged to "think outside the box" as they put what they learn about offensive and defensive cyber techniques to the test. · Female middle school students are shown that they can develop interests in science, technology, engineering and math at the Wright-Patterson AFB's and AFRL's event, "STEM-ulate Your Mind: Girls RULE!" on Nov. 7 at STARBASE Wright-Patt. AFRL and the Wright-Patterson AFB Educational Outreach Office hosted the free STEM celebration for female students in sixth to eighth grades from 16 schools and 12 districts. All lessons were presented by AFRL female scientists and engineers. Technology · AFRL personnel team with the U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin to design, build and test the Mobile User Objective System, a satellite communications system designed to be a large cell tower in the sky. The system is designed to provide and improve more communications capability for U.S. forces on the ground. · AFRL's Materials and Manufacturing Directorate researchers unveil the Microwave Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Disposition Reactor, a one-of-a-kind machine that offers a way to synthesize nano-diamonds. Readiness & Training · Sections of a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III fuselage, transformed into an aeromedical evacuation trainer, provide a realistic training environment for students at the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, 711th Human Performance Wing, AFRL. · 88 ABW leads the charge in sharpening the readiness skills of base personnel, ensuring their capability of supporting contingency and deployment operations both in-garrison and deployed. Quarterly exercise scenarios enhanced skills. · For the second year in a row, the 445 AW participates in a joint training exercise hosted by the 180th Fighter Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard in Swanton, Ohio. The exercise was developed to enhance mission readiness and war fighting capabilities by providing hands-on training for the proper handling and placement of deployable assets to Airmen of all ranks on the C-17 Globemaster III and C-130 Hercules aircrafts. · AFRL hosts a Tech Warrior 2015 exercise Sept. 8-17 during which about 150 personnel are trained in operational deployment scenarios and test new technologies in an integrated environment. The exercise is held at the National Center for Medical Readiness, known as Calamityville, in Fairborn. · Defense Secretary Ash Carter announces all occupations in the U.S. military will be open to men and women alike on Dec. 3. Women will be fully integrated into combat roles deliberately and methodically using seven guidelines. Funding & Saving Initiatives · Devillier realigns the Air Force Continuous Process Improvement, or AF CPI, wing process manager duties to the Wing Manpower Office, 88th Force Support Squadron. The move follows the Air Force's renaming Air Force Smart Operations 21 to AF CPI in June and is initiated to make that change more effective at Wright-Patterson AFB. AF CPI helps improve a unit's combat capabilities while reducing associated costs and could be used to systematically apply proven CPI techniques to all processes associated with fulfilling a unit's mission, according to Joseph Taulbee, chief, Wing Manpower Office. · The month of October is observed as Energy Action Month (EAM), highlighted by a celebration honoring the $1 million Wright-Patterson AFB has saved in rebates from the Dayton Power and Light Co. through multiple energy management projects affecting 100 buildings. · Airmen from the 88 CS Infrastructure Flight help save more than $250,000 by splicing cables themselves outside Bldg. 840, Area B. One of the cables contains 3,600 lines. After the splice, the cable runs directly to the communications switch. · As part of EAM, a consumption reduction challenge is issued to 10 of the largest energy-consuming organizations on the installation. Devillier announces that AFIT wins the 2015 EAM Energy Intensity Reduction Champion Award for having the greatest percentage of "intensity reduction" in Bldg. 641, Area B. At the Nov. 18 meeting of the 88 ABW Energy Management Steering Group, the award is accepted by Col. Doral "Ned" Sandlin, AFIT commandant. Miscellaneous · An updated and expanded exhibit at the NMUSAF honors Tuskegee Airmen and their tremendously significant contributions to World War II, America's armed services, the Air Force and racial integration. (Feb. 13, A4) · Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James visits Wright-Patterson AFB March 26 to get a firsthand look at various missions and delivers the commencement address at AFIT. · The two remaining Doolittle Tokyo Raiders present the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor Congress can give on behalf of Americans, to the NMUSAF on April 18. The medal is displayed at the museum, rotating near the Raiders' 80 silver goblets. · A memorial bench dedication ceremony at the NMUSAF honors the crew of Sitka 43, a C-17 crew that crashed at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, in 2010. None of the four crewmembers survived.