Airfield Management Airman receives AFMC annual award

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jason Hernandez
  • 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  An Edwards Airman recently received an Air Force Materiel Command award for his work as an Airfield Management Operations Coordinator here. 

Senior Airman Dustin Moore, with the 412th Operations Support Squadron, received the 2006 Airfield Management Airman of the Year award. 

The AFMC award is given annually for outstanding work in airfield operations. 

"It's the first AFMC award I've received," Airman Moore said. "It feels good that people actually noticed how hard I work and how much I am trying to do my job each day." 

To earn the award, Airman Moore conducted daily inspections of landing surfaces of three airfields and 18 lakebed runways on Edwards, ensuring safe test operations, Lt. Col. Chris Wheeler, the 412th OSS commander, wrote in the award nomination package. 

"The thing I love most about my job is going out on the runways," Airman Moore said. "It's exciting to be able to drive all the way down because very few people are allowed to do so. I enjoy having authority and responsibility for the safety of aircraft landing and taking off here." 

Furthermore, Airman Moore coordinated several flight plans for the RQ-4A Global Hawk, MQ-1 Predator, and YAL-1A Airborne Laser, Colonel Wheeler said. 

"A lot of people confuse my job with the control tower," Airman Moore said. "What we do is assist the tower and aircraft in their daily operations. We do runway sweeps for foreign object debris, clear animals and make sure the parking ramps have the correct space for aircraft and are within regulations. We are the middle man between the tower and the aircraft." 

Airman Moore was one of the first responders to more than 40 in-flight and ground-emergencies, and he also processed more than 700 flight plans for test operations and performed 150 airfield checks on $2.7 million construction sites for Edwards. 

Despite short manning, Airman Moore found time to represent the Airfield Operations Flight as a member of the Edwards Blue Eagles Honor Guard, Colonel Wheeler said. 

"Being on the honor guard and other volunteer work, such as escorting Boy Scouts on a tour of Edwards helped me," Airman Moore said. "Earning this award has shown me that my leadership takes care of their troops and makes sure they get recognized."