Team Travis demonstrates excellence to command

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Shaun Emery
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AFB, Calif. --  Team Travis proved they are the cream of the crop in Air Mobility Command, taking home the 2009 Commander-in-Chief's Annual Award for Installation Excellence as well as the $100,000 that comes with it. 

In 1984, the President of the United States established the CINC's Annual Award for Installation Excellence to recognize the outstanding efforts of the people who operate and maintain Department of Defense installations and who have done the best with their resources to support the mission. The award encourages commanders to create an environment that promotes innovative and creative ways of enhancing base-level services, facilities and quality-of-life.

The process started with a four-page nomination letter that was sent to a review board at AMC headquarters. The letter was scored, the top three bases were notified and inspectors visited the respective bases to validate the nomination letters. 

Col. Nick Desport, AMC/A7 deputy director of installation and mission support and inspection team chief, said expectations were high before they arrived at Travis. 

"We read over the 1206 packages from all the nominees, and they were all great. The final three had a lot to show." 

Inspectors arrived Sept. 15 and were shown a cross-section of Team Travis in just one day with 26 functional areas highlighted. 

"It was a centralized effort," said Maj. Christopher MacAuley, 60th Maintenance Squadron operations officer. "We trusted our people to put together an itinerary for the inspectors so that those functional areas could demonstrate what they do on a day-to-day basis." 

Inspectors from AMC said the motivation of Team Travis members, their professionalism and how the base looked struck them right away. 

"We saw a lot of innovation at Travis," Colonel Desport said. "We are in a period in time when we're asking our people to do more with less and to find smarter ways to work faster and more safely. There are some really smart folks doing the right things at Travis. They are an example of the great things we're doing in AMC." 

Another aspect of the base that impressed inspectors was the quarterly Deployed Spouses Dinner held at the Travis Conference Center Sept. 16. 

"We stopped in at the dinner and it was amazing," Colonel Desport said. "I've never seen anything quite like it. It says a lot about how Team Travis takes care of its people. It was very impressive." 

Col. Mark Dillon, 60th Air Mobility Wing commander, who stresses getting back to basics, said the installation's selection was a result of Team Travis' focus on the Air Force's top three priorities of winning today's fight, taking care of our own and preparing for tomorrow's challenges. 

"This accomplishment is a direct result of the hard work and teamwork demonstrated daily on this outstanding installation," he said. "It is an honor to represent Air Mobility Command in the 2009 Air Force competition."