Two Offutt individuals win Air Force-level awards

  • Published
  • By Ryan Hansen
  • 55th Wing Public Affairs
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. --  To say that the Air Force communications and information, or C&I, career field is vast would be an understatement.

To be more specific, C&I is comprised of more than 14 career fields and includes more than 47,600 individuals stationed at installations around the globe.

So when the career field's 2009 annual award winners were announced in late March, it was even more impressive when two individuals from Offutt were included on that short list.

Senior Airman Dustin Scott, a network infrastructure technician with the 2d Systems Operations Squadron, was named the Outstanding Communications-Computer Systems award winner while Ken Lemke, Installation Spectrum Manager with the 55th Communications Squadron, earned the Outstanding ISM award.

As expected, both were incredibly surprised when they heard the news.

"Honestly, I was extremely shocked," Airman Scott said.

He learned of the news while attending what appeared to be a routine briefing on enlisted performance reports during airman leadership school. At first, he was confused when his squadron commander, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Shull, showed up to provide the brief that day.

"Then I was really confused when he called me up to the front," he said, "but I figured it was just because I was his Airman and he wanted me up there because he knew me."

But Colonel Shull ended the confusion quickly and broke the news that Airman Scott was indeed an Air Force award winner.

"It was certainly a pleasant surprise," Airman Scott said.

The announcement was as equally surprising for Mr. Lemke, who's been directly involved with Air Force communications for 35 years.

"It was totally unexpected and the selection was quite humbling," he said. "There are a lot of folks in the ISM community that are very, very good. I've had a tremendous amount of support from the other guys in the shop and my flight, squadron and group leadership, and, without that, awards just don't happen."

As the base ISM, Mr. Lemke serves as the de facto personal wireless communications systems supervisor. In this capacity, he oversees the operations of the PWCS office, which manages the land mobile radio system, cellular telephones, Blackberries and pagers for the 55th Wing.

"Ken has an innate ability for strategic thinking," said Capt. William Miklo, 55th CS operations flight commander and Mr. Lemke's supervisor. "He fully understands the roles of each of the units on Offutt and the value each brings to overall home station and deployed missions."

Beyond his position at the 55th CS, Mr. Lemke is also heavily involved in radio communications and spectrum utilization throughout the local area. He is part of the American Radio Relay League as a radio license testing examiner, certified ham radio licensing instructor, an official observer and an assistant emergency coordinator for Sarpy County.

"Ken has a tremendous passion for his job," Captain Miklo said. "He embodies all of the traits of a team member and truly is a role model for others to follow; great leader, great follower, subject matter expert in his field and has the drive and desire to make those qualities successful."

As for Airman Scott, not only was his award an impressive individual feat, but it is believed that he is the first C&I award winner from the Air Force Weather Agency, the parent agency for 2d SYOS, since the early 1980s.

"What sets Dustin apart is his passion and desire to do well," said Tech. Sgt. Brandon Jacobson, network operations section chief with 2d SYOS and Airman Scott's supervisor. "If he doesn't know or understand something, he is quick to find the right answers. If there is something broken or a way to do something better, Dustin will be the first person to stand up and do something about it."

As a network infrastructure technician, Airman Scott is responsible for managing the AFWA routers and switches, local servers and maintaining network security. He is also responsible for coordinating with outside entities such as the 55th CS and the Integrated Network Operations and Security Center to locate any problems while trying to send weather data to out to individual operational weather squadrons around the world.

"His job knowledge and expertise set the standard," Sergeant Jacobson said. "He makes our team better because he is a good leader and is always looking at making the mission move forward."

As Air Force level award winners, Airman Scott may now add the Air Force Recognition Ribbon to his decorations while Mr. Lemke can wear the Air Force Recognition Pin, as authorized by Air Force Instruction 36-2805.

"The superb quality of the nominations we received confirms that our Airmen continue to excel in conducting warfighter missions around the world," said Lt. Gen. William T. Lord, Air Force chief of warfighting integration and chief information officer. "The culmination of their efforts to contribute to and support vital Air Force missions and operations led to their selection as the very best of an outstanding group of officers, enlisted and civilians."

As representatives of their squadrons and Offutt, Airman Scott and Mr. Lemke will join other C&I award winners at a ceremony May 13 at Joint Base Andrews, Md.