CNATTU wins two 2011 Navy service awards Published Feb. 1, 2012 By Airman 1st Class Heather Heiney 81st Training Wing Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Keesler's Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit recently won two Navy community service awards for 2011 in the medium shore category. The awards included the health, safety and fitness flagship award and the campaign drug-free flagship award. Last year, CNATTU Keesler won the personal excellence partnership flagship award in the medium shore category. Every year the Navy recognizes sea, shore and overseas commands for their community service efforts by presenting awards in five categories that include personal excellence partnership, project good neighbor and environmental stewardship in addition to the categories CNATTU Keesler won this year. The health, safety and fitness flagship recognizes the best project that teaches and encourages individuals to lead healthy, active lifestyles. The campaign drug-free flagship recognizes the best program that reaches out to teach children about the dangers of drug abuse using the Navy Reserve Force specially-prepared videos and presentations or other anti-drug programs such as Drug Education for Youth or Red Ribbon Campaign. The unit's community service efforts were managed and coordinated by Petty Officer 1st Class Cynthia Burton, with the help of Petty Officer 1st Class Michael McBee. Burton was the 2011 winner of the Thomas V. Fredian Community Leadership Award from the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce. For the health, safety and fitness flagship award, 205 volunteers gave more than 1,100 hours of their time to the local community to promote the ideals for which the award is named. According to the award package, whether the volunteers were coaching local youth with autism, cerebral palsy, or Down's syndrome in soccer; rigging catamarans for Special Olympics' sailing events; hosting awards ceremonies for athletic events or supporting charities by raising money through our own Relay for Life team, the program links health, safety, and fitness initiatives through the U.S. Navy and the local community. "Our command's volunteers served as role models to educate the children and teens that physical fitness is a lifetime commitment by stressing the importance of staying healthy and fit," the package states. For the drug-free flagship award, 102 volunteers gave nearly 700 hours to mentor and council students at local schools and organizations on the importance of being drug-free. According to the award package, the goals of the program include: providing educational information on drug abuse and prevention to the local Boys and Girls Club and elementary schools, developing alternative extracurricular activities, mentoring troubled teens at Biloxi Alternative High School and leading and educating local Sea Cadets and Boys Scouts and assisting Keesler's Airmen Against Drunk Driving program. The nomination also reads, "CNATTU Keesler's volunteers developed unique ways of leadership through these events by mentoring, educating, and leading vulnerable youths ultimately to a drug-free lifestyle."