AMC selects 319th Air Base Wing for AF Outstanding Unit Award

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Luis Loza Gutierrez
  • 319th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  The men and women of the 319th Air Base Wing will once again  walk with their head raised high this year, but it has nothing to do with trying to look over the several feet of snow that typically covers the base during the winter.

On Oct. 17, Col. Paul E. Bauman, 319th ABW commander, announced that Air Mobility Command selected the wing as a recipient of the 2014 Air Force Outstanding Unit Award.

"You have all proven that we are truly among the best in the Air Force!  It takes a tremendous amount of professionalism, proficiency, and passion to win an award of this caliber," said Bauman.

The Air Force Outstanding Unit Award is awarded by the secretary of the Air Force to numbered units that have distinguished themselves by exceptionally meritorious service or outstanding achievement that clearly sets the unit above and apart from similar units.

The services include; performance of exceptionally meritorious service, accomplishment of a specific outstanding achievement of national or international significance, combat operations against an armed enemy of the United States, or military operations involving conflict with or exposure to hostile actions by an opposing foreign force.  

Although the award is a specifically awarded to the 319th ABW, the commander was quick to thank and attribute part of the wing's success to the partnership it shares with base's tenant and associate units. 

"This accomplishment surely could not have been achieved without superior efforts by all our Team Grand Forks mission partners," said Bauman.

The 319th ABW provides operating and direct operations support to wing personnel, two tenant units and one geographically separated unit.

On the national scale, the wing supports the Department of Homeland Security via its mission partners in Customs and Border Protection, which fly the MQ-1B Predator remotely from Grand Forks AFB in order to provide protection for the U.S. northern and southern borders.

The Warriors of the North also support missions on the global scale.
In addition to having more than 100 of its Airmen deployed in order to carry out a multitude of wartime missions, the 319th ABW provides support  to the 69th Reconnaissance Squadron another one of its tenant units, which conducts unmanned aerial system operations by remotely piloting RQ-4 Global Hawk (Block 40) aircraft .

These operations ensure combatant commanders receive the military intelligence necessary to make strategic decisions and the warfighters on the ground have the communication needed to amass decisive firepower on the enemy and protect the lives of their comrades.
The 319th ABW epitomizes Air Force Total Force concept thanks to its partnership with the 119th Wing, which remotely fly the MQ-1A Predator from North Dakota to conduct armed reconnaissance against critical targets worldwide.

Last, but not least, the installations High Frequency Global Communication Station (HFGCS) is only one of two assets in the world capable of controlling more than a dozen global stations providing 24/7 command and control capability to support the President and Secretary of Defense as well as our nation's tanker and cargo aircraft.

(Commentary by former 319th Air Base Wing vice commander, Col. Christopher Mann, contributed to this article.)