The Chief of Staff, Army Award for Maintenance Excellence (AAME) Program takes place annually to highlight and recognize active, reserve and Guard units in various categories, who exhibit distinction in maintenance operations. Senior California Army National Guard leadership visited the field maintenance shop (FMS) 38 in Mountainview, Calif. to recognize two AAME awards and two state awards this shop merited.
Cal Guard’s FMS 38 bested active duty, reserve and other National Guard maintenance shops in their category to earn the Chief of Staff AAME Runner Up, U. S. Army National Guard TDA Category, 2017 and they bested all other National Guard shops in their category to earn the Army National Guard AAME TDA, NGB Winner, 2017.
On the state side, the shop won the Cal Guard Chief Warrant Office 4 (Ret) Jose Martinez Top Shop Award for the highest standards in maintenance operations among all California shops. Their team supervisor was awarded the Chief Warrant Office 5 Richard L. Merrill Surface Maintenance Supervisor of the Year Award.
“You represent the entire National Guard Bureau in your accomplishments and I’m very proud to have you as part of our organization,” said Col. Tiffany Buethe, Logistics and Surface Maintenance Director. “What you do, sets the standards for the rest of our organization and we need to be able to exceed the standards as you have,” said Buethe.
According to the Army’s award website, the AAME award objectives ensure the best units compete, recognizes exceptional maintenance accomplishments and initiatives and aims to improve maintenance efficiency, while reducing waste.
With the rate of Cal Guard’s unit deployments, and the need for working equipment, this award is valued by senior leaders because it assesses the maintenance component of unit readiness as well as improves and sustains field maintenance readiness.
“This is a great achievement and a culmination of numerous years, of the type of work we do here, and the quality, completed work we provide our customers. We are very proud,” said Shop Supervisor Chief Warrant Officer 4 Juan Samano.