Port-Au'-Prince, Haiti – Technical Sergeant Paul Ewing of the 621st Contingency Response Wing (CRW), is always quietly at the center of any work to be done. If it's broke, he can fix it; if it needs to happen, he can do it. So when he was one of four service members that Admiral Kurt Tidd, Commander of the United States Southern Command presented with a Joint Service Achievement Medal on October 15th, 2016, he was the only one not expecting it.
“I was very surprised when they told me about the award. I thought that maybe the Admiral was going to walk around and maybe just recognize me or something, I wasn't expecting him to do it in a full formation in front of everyone.” said Tech. Sgt. Ewing.
Tech Sgt. Ewing is the Contingency Response Team Chief, Joint Task Force - Port Opening (JTF-PO) Matthew, deployed in response to the devastating Hurricane Matthew. He led his team of 23 Airmen to establish all required communications and started receiving Aircraft less than four hours after hitting the ground in Haiti.
"When SOUTHCOM came and asked for someone who showed joint leadership, it was an easy decision on our part that it should be Tech. Sgt. Ewing" Colonel Leslie Maher, JTF-PO Matthew Commander.
JTF-PO Matthew has moved more than 1,522.06 Shore Tons of humanitarian aid and supplies, 332 Passengers, eight U.S. Air Force C-17's , eight C-130s, and loaded more than 32 trucks and Helicopters both U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps.
“I feel like every member of the team should have been recognized,” Tech. Sgt. Ewing said, “It was a group effort. This doesn't run without every one of them.”
The CRW is a part of the Joint Task Force Matthew supporting the government of Haiti's request for humanitarian assistance. It stands ready to deploy anywhere in the world in support of emergency operations, such as hurricane relief, within 12 hours of notification.