Courtesy Photo | Senior Airman Ryan Smith, from the 3rd Aerial Port Squadron at Pope Field, N.C., is...... read more read more
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SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- A native of Bellport, N.Y., Senior Airman Ryan C. Smith earned the title of Air Mobility Command’s Airman of the Year here March 21, 2012, during an announcement at AMC’s annual awards banquet.
Smith was selected from a group of four finalists for the award. He will compete next in the airman category to be one of the U.S. Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year.
Smith is an air transportation airman, or aerial porter, who works as a passenger service agent with the 3rd Aerial Port Squadron at Pope Field, N.C.
In 2011, he helped move more than 200,000 passengers on more than 10,000 missions, supporting in-garrison and overseas contingency operations, according to his awards package.
During a recent deployment, Smith also assisted an aeromedical evacuation squadron with the upload of 90 critically-wounded casualties, “ensuring rapid life-saving treatment and airlift to definitive care.”
Additionally, as the vice president of Pope Field’s Airman Against Drunk Driving, he “organized 41 wingman saves -- providing fellow Airmen a safe ride home and preventing possible alcohol-related incidents.”
According to Smith’s biography, he attended Bellport High School and went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in history from Manhattan College. His biography states he “excelled across the entire spectrum of school activities. His academic excellence earned him the James Lee Restrictive History Scholarship, an induction into the International History Honor Society, Phi Alpha Theta, and a government internship in the office of U.S. Congressman Eliot L. Engel.”
After graduation, Smith worked as a manager for a home improvements and construction company, and also worked part time on a local government campaign for an elected official in Bellport. He subsequently enlisted in the Air Force under the Delayed Enlistment Program in 2009 and was called to active duty in 2010.
Upon completion of basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, in 2010, Smith remained at Lackland where he began technical training as an air transportation apprentice. He graduated as the Red-Rope Airman Leader, the Air Transportation Student Leader and also earned the Academic Ace Award.
He was then assigned to Pope Field and began on-the-job training for his five-skill level where he remains today, the biography shows. In addition to the AMC award, he was the 43rd Airlift Group’s Lance P. Sijan USAF Leadership Award (Junior Enlisted) nominee, and has received many prizes and awards for his civic involvement. He was also selected as the 3rd Aerial Port Squadron’s Airman of the Year, and subsequently the 43rd Airlift Group’s Airman of the Year for 2011.
At the next level, an Air Force selection board at the Air Force Personnel Center will review nominees who represent not only major commands like AMC, but also direct reporting units, field operating agencies and Headquarters Air Force nominees, officials said. The board then selects 12 airmen based on superior leadership, job performance and personal achievements for the Air Force awards of Outstanding Airmen of the Year.
| Date Taken: | 03.21.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 03.23.2012 14:01 |
| Story ID: | 85710 |
| Location: | SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, ILLINOIS, US |
| Hometown: | BELLPORT, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 619 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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