Accomplishments recognized during power outages

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Kayla McWalter
  • N.H. Headquarters Air Staff
PEASE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, N.H. --  Six Airmen from the 157th Communications Flight were presented with achievement medals for their performance during a power outage experienced during the January unit training assembly.

The outages affected 16 military installations in the region, including Pease. As a result, several key network components suffered severe damage and each recipient played a vital role in the restoration of those components.

Communications Flight Commander Maj. William Wilson said the performance of his Airmen is what they strive for and why they have a good reputation.

"When it comes to a crisis you always come together and make it happen," Wilson said. "You hit it out of the park."

The Airmen selected for the award comprised a team of members holding a range of skill sets. They included: Master Sgt. Melissa Theriault, Master Sgt. Samuel Daigle, Master Sgt. Benjamin Kramer, Tech. Sgt. Eric Lewis, Staff Sgt. Alan Dwyer and Staff Sgt. Alexander Geske.

"The faster I can get it fixed, the less of a burden it will have on the base" said Lewis, who handled radio communications and security systems.

The recipients also worked to rebuild the router, domain controllers and file server which supports 16 wings and their flying, intelligence and nuclear operations.

To overcome the outage, the team repaired $60,000 worth of hardware and software related issues along with a multitude of other troubleshooting and repairs to bring the damaged devices online. 

"It was a bigger team effort than the amount of people you can recognize," said Lewis. "The entire base was affected."