CRTC, 116th Lauded By Guard Association

Receiving the NGAUS Air National Guard Mission Support Award are from left to right Lt. Gen. Craig R. McKinley, chief ANG, Senior Master Sgt William W. Kaberle, Townsend Range NCOIC; Lt Col. Jim O'Brien, Townsend Range commander, Col. Floyd Harbin, CRTC commander; Gen. Bruce Carlson and Maj Gen. David B. Poythress, Georgia's Adjutant General.

Looking for the best Air National Guard units in the nation?   You need only to look inside Georgia at the Combat Readiness Training Center in Savannah and the 116^th Communications Squadron at Robins AFB, GA.

These two Georgia Air National Guard units each captured the Distinguished Mission Support Plaque presented at the 128^th General Conference of the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS) held recently in Albuquerque, NM.

The Mission Support Plaque is presented each year to five outstanding non-flying Air National Guard units in the US that perform unique mission support roles. Being awarded this distinctive honor is equivalent to a flying unit being awarded a Distinguished Flying Award plaque.

Judged on the basis of it overall operation readiness during the reporting years, each unit’s performance is compared to all other Air National Guar non-flying units in the nation.  Selection is based on operational readiness inspections, special missions, deployments and exercises, outstanding accomplishments, unit manning levels, recruiting and retention; and skill levels qualifications.

The mission of the Savannah’s Combat Readiness Training Center (CRTC) is to provide an integrated, year-round, realistic training environment for deployed units that include available airspace training areas, gunnery ranges, systems, facilities and equipment to enhance a unit’s war fighting capabilities. Over the past two years, Georgia’s CRTC hosted more than 179 units and other customers at its Travis Field facilities. These include the Aerial Port University, Langley, Va.’s 71st Fighter Squadron, several regional FEMA exercises and three unit operational readiness inspections.

In a continuing effort to make Georgia’s CRTC one of the key training centers in the nation, the unit has  initiated more than $16.3 million of new construction projects at Travis Field and at Townsend Bombing Range.  The center also established a new Military Operating Area (MOA) and opened two new military training routes that increase the availability of military airspace for training.

 The 116^th Communications Squadron located at Robins AFB was the second recipient of the Distinguished Mission Support Plaque.  The unit is the only totally blended Communications Squadron in the Air Force.  It is composed of Air National Guard, active duty, civil service and contractor personnel and is responsible for all ground communication supporting the Joint STARS (Surveillance Target Attack Radar System) mission. 

Receiving the NGAUS Air National Guard Missions Support Award from the 116th Communication Squadron are ( L-to-R) Lt. Gen McKinley MSgt Gary Ames, Colonel Lenue Gilchrist, LtCol Michael Rumsey, SMSgt Dorothy Pearson, SSgt Lawrence Laurine, General Bruce Carlson, Maj Gen David Poythress

The men and women of unit provide operational, maintenance and technical support of all computer networks, information assurance, ground radio, telephone systems and visual information service.  These Georgia Air National Guardsmen deployed to forward operations locations with the Joint STARS aircraft and crews.  The unit also mobilized to aid victims from Hurricane Katrina.

The unit has continuously been awarded “excellent” ratings on numerous Inspector General and Operational Readiness Inspections.

The Distinguished Mission Support Plaques were presented to the two Georgia Air National Guard units by Gen. Bruce Carlson, commander Air Material Command, and Lt. Gen. Craig R. McKinley, director Air National Guard. Maj. Gen. David Poythress, Georgia’s Adjutant General and a NGAUS director also participated in the presentation.