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AFA to honor McChord reservists at convention

  • Published
  • By Sandra Pishner
  • 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  Reservists in the 446th Airlift Wing here will receive two awards on the first day of the Air Force Association's Annual Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition. The event runs Sept. 14-16 in National Harbor, Md.

At the beginning of the opening day, the AFA will present the President's Award. This award recognizes the Air Force Reserve Command unit that displays outstanding flying achievement and continued superior performance. The wing earned the award for its rescue mission in December 2007 of a stranded fishing trawler in the Antarctic.

At the end of the first day of the conference, Staff Sgt. Channel Bolton-Scholl will be honored as one of the Air Force's 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year. Sergeant Bolton-Scholl is assigned McChord's 446th Maintenance Squadron and is currently deployed to Southwest Asia. Plans call for her to return from overseas in time to attend the awards dinner.

The AFA President's Award recognizes the quick action and versatile airpower of the 446th Airlift Wing's aircrew and C-17 Globemaster.

Locked in the ice flow off the Ross Ice Shelf for six days, the Argos Georgia was without power and in need of a new engine piston and critical supplies.

The C-17 crew scrambled to help. The pilots were Majs. Tom Jensen of the 97th Airlift Squadron and Mark Brown of the 313th AS. The loadmasters were Chief Master Sgt. Jim Masura, 446th Operations Group; Senior Master Sgt. Lance Gustafson, 313th AS; and Master Sgt. Scott Dellinger, 728th AS. They airdropped the 150-pound engine part about 400 feet from the water at 150 knots.

"The U.S. Air Force was fantastic," said Peter Thomson, Argos Georgia Limited's director of operations, a month after the rescue. "They offered to drop the package on the deck, but I had visions of it smashing through the bridge. So, they dropped it nearby on the ice with a large buoy and put a 20-pound box of chocolates inside."

Airdropping an engine in the ice fields of the Antarctic was a first for the 446th AW.

Another milestone for the wing was having a reservist named one of the Air Force's 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year.

Sergeant Bolton-Scholl is a crew chief with 446th MXS. The Eugene, Ore., native was chosen by an Air Force selection board at the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph AFB, Texas. The board picked the service's top Airmen based on superior leadership, job performance and personal achievements. (Air Force Reserve Command News Service)