Keesler honors top military, civilian performers of 2008 Published Feb. 25, 2009 By Susan Griggs 81st Training Wing Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, BILOXI, MISS. -- The 81st Training Wing honored its top performers for 2008 at the annual awards banquet Feb. 19. Winners are: Airman -- Senior Airmen Christopher Turknett, 81st Security Forces Squadron. Airman Turknett's job is noncommissioned officer in charge of police services, although he's still a three-striper. He also serves as desk sergeant, certified quality assurance evaluator for Keesler's gate guard contract and a member of Keesler's special weapons and tactics team. He was deployed as fire team leader to Camp Bucca, Iraq. He won the John Levitow Award for his Airman Leadership School class and was a distinguished graduate from the Air Force combat leaders course. Airman Turknett organized the 2008 Law Enforcement Officer Association conference and served as Keesler's leader for Mississippi Blitz Weekend, a initiative targeting seatbelt use and drunken driving. He was the unit's contact for Operation Hero, KaBOOM playground volunteer and Special Olympics security leader. Noncommissioned officer -- Tech. Sgt. Jill Higgins, 81st Dental Squadron. Sergeant Higgins is the Air Force's Outstanding Dental NCO for 2008 and was instrumental in her unit earning Air Education and Training Command's top large dental clinic of the year honors. She managed a $3 million National Institutes of Health project and published an article in the Journal of the American Dental Association. Sergeant Higgins earned the academic achievement award and distinguished graduated recognition in her class at the Mathies NCO Academy. She organized a 12-member team for the Biloxi beach cleanup and was a volunteer for Special Olympics, Hearts from Home and Boy Scout Camporee. Senior NCO -- Master Sgt. David Boggs, 81st Medical Operations Squadron. Sergeant Boggs, a nuclear medicine technician, is in Afghanistan for a year as radiology program director to create an X-ray course. He's the Air Force's 2008 global health NCO of the year. At combat skills training, he served as team first sergeant and saved the life of a choking team member. He served as convoy commander for 200 missions and serves as the Air Force representative for the multi-service honor guard. While deployed, he's completed 32 credit hours to full his bachelor's degree requirements through Touro University. He leads monthly enlisted calls and a 13-member community relations team that's assisted in distribution of toys and clothes to Afghan children. Company grade officer -- Capt. Michael Stone, 335th Training Squadron. As flight commander for force support training, Captain Stone also serves as an instructor and instructor supervisor for more than 300 personnel. He directed his squadron's highest student load - 130 classes and 2,000 students - while achieving a 99-percent graduation rate. The captain crafted a 49-day course in three months while 28-percent manned and graduated 57 officers ahead of schedule. Captain Stone directed the nerve center for Special Olympics and the command center for the Boy Scout Camporee. He led a squadron/local business team effort to deliver two meals a day for three months at a senior center with an inoperable elevator and served as project officer for a community drive that supplied free baby products for new moms. First sergeant -- Master Sgt. Scott Passman, 81st Force Support Squadron. Sergeant Passman served as the medical task force first sergeant for more than 1,100 forces at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. He oversaw a revamped process that cut inprocessing time in half and bolstered a 98 percent survival rate. He mentored an Airman Leadership School class on leadership principles and techniques. During Hurricane Gustav, he ensured returning evacuees had a place to stay, supplied shelter support and maintained accountability. Sergeant Passman is president of Keesler's first sergeant council and established a similar organization at Bagram, serving as vice president. He led an annual golf fundraiser for Project Cheer and assisted a local school with a campus beautification project. Honor guard airman -- Airman 1st Class Rupert Laco, 81st Inpatient Operations Squadron. During his six-month honor guard rotation, Airman Laco performed more than 60 funerals and 20 color guard details and helped train more than 30 new honor guard members. He helped organize and train for the successful alpha rotation graduation. Honor guard NCO -- Staff Sgt. Jose Ramos, 338th Training Squadron. In his 90-day honor guard rotation, Sergeant Ramos performed in more than 35 funerals and 15 color guard detail. He helped train new honor guard members and developed and implemented a new honor guard database that tracks every detail, man hours, miles traveled and price of detail for every HG member, saving more than 200 man hours a month for data entry. Civilian category 1 -- Trudy Davis, 81st Diagnostics and Therapeutics Squadron. As a tumor registrar, Ms. Davis led a flawless 81st Medical Group cancer program accreditation and coordinated an American College of Surgeons inspection visit. She wrote a memorandum of understanding between the 81st MDG and the 14th MDG at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss., for which she serves as the primary technical consultant for more than 120 cases. She updated operation instructions and educated pathologists on new regulations and briefed more than 20 health care providers on the tumor registry's standards of care. She spearheaded more than a hundred urgent requests from 15 other facilities, expediting critical diagnosis validations. Ms. Davis planned two squadron farewells and volunteers with the Purvis Unity Youth Group, Girl Scouts and Gulfport Job Corps. Civilian category 2 -- Steven Walls, 338th Training Squadron. Mr. Walls was promoted to a training specialist position in the ground radar flight after being recognized as a premier instructor in the network infrastructure systems training flight. He taught 1,035 hours with no failures and 61 of 179 students on the honor roll. He served as lead data base manager and developed a resource estimate to acquire training equipment valued at $300,000 which was vital to cyber transformation. He merged two texts into one to create an easy-to-use study guide. He created an orientation lesson with real-world photos of deployed Airmen to motivate more than 600 students annually. Mr. Walls is a Boy Scout leader, Special Olympics volunteer and a key supporter and fundraiser for high school and community college bands. Civilian supervisor category 1 -- Jamey Simmons, 81st Force Support Squadron. As student assignments chief, Ms. Simmons managed 6,433 new assignments and 5,380 permanent change of station departures. She provided monthly training to military training leaders on personnel changes and developed an automated assignment management tool to streamline processes that was lauded by Air Education and Training Command. Ms. Simmons is a commentator and Eucharistic minister at her church and has been actively involved with the Gulf Coast Women's Center for Nonviolence, Cadet Point Senior Village, Hearts from Home, Homes of Grace and St. Vincent de Paul Society. Civilian supervisor category 2 -- Kimberly Adams, 81st Training Support Squadron. Ms. Adams was referred to as a "force multiplier" for performing the jobs performed by several people at other bases -- training development element chief, training manager and training requestor quota identifier. She revamped quotas, added 40 instructors, cut waiting time for training and booster the number of graduates, moving the 81st Training Group to the best "students awaiting training status" of seven technical training bases. Director of 13 courses, she was named the squadron's outstanding performer during the 2008 standards/evaluations inspection. Ms. Adams led an 11-member breast cancer fundraising team, helped to raise $30,000 for Parent Teacher Association, tutored elementary school students and co-chaired a school's fall fun day. She also completed her first walking marathon.