Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas -- One of the 960th Cyber Operations Group's Cyber
Gladiators is battling community need by going above and beyond as an avid
volunteer.
Maj. Brett Bonin, a Cyber Command & Control Mission System
senior duty officer, assigned to the 854th Combat Operations Squadron here, is a
three-time awardee of the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal with
nearly 2,000 volunteer hours.
"Brett has done some terrific work in his
community that has clearly made a difference," said Col. Mark Melcher, 854th COS
commander. "He has volunteered more than 321 hours over the past year performing
in a number of community volunteer leadership roles within his extended North
Texas community, and his leadership has been instrumental to the health and
welfare of the civilian community. Coupled with his superb performance as a
mission commander at the 426th Network Warfare Squadron and senior duty officer
at the 854th COS, Major Bonin is a model Citizen Airman!"
Bonin served in
the U.S. Army until 2004, where he was assigned to the Army Corps of Engineers
and led responses to numerous floods and hurricanes. However, in 2005, having
separated from the Army, Bonin and his wife found themselves to be Hurricane
Katrina disaster refugees.
"Growing up on the [Gulf] Coast, we were used
to evacuating for a couple of days and then returning," Bonin said. "As a child,
I can remember the older generation talking about Hurricane Betsy and the worst
case of a perfect storm up the mouth of the Mississippi and into New Orleans and
the Gulf Coast. This was the perfect storm, and it was an awful feeling to not
know where I would live or if everything I owned was destroyed."
He went
on to say he and his wife watched his former colleagues at the Superdome and
around New Orleans from a television in the run-down motel room they were lucky
enough to secure as people were evacuating. Having been on the other side in his
military career, he says it was demoralizing not being able to help and being
dependent on so many others. However, the outpouring of support they received
inspired him to become an avid volunteer.
"The disaster made me realize
that I was no longer a leader in the military or community, but just an average
Joe with little ability to help others," Bonin said.
So, after the Katrina
response settled, he signed up to volunteer with the Catholic Charities Refugee
Services, American Red Cross, Community Emergency Response Team in Dallas,
Habitat for Humanity, and Good Samaritans. After three years of volunteer
leadership, he joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve in 2009, and has continued to
volunteer and serve as a traditional reservist.
"Being affiliated with a
broad group of NGOs allows me to pick volunteer assignments that are conducive
to work, Reserve, and family obligations," said the St. Amant, La., native, who
also serves as a Global Security Officer for Hewlett-Packard in his civilian
profession.
One of those NCOs is Good Samaritans, a North Texas
non-profit organization that coordinates victim assistance and distributes food
to those in need. Bonin is the vice president, and this year alone, his
leadership has enabled critical services to be delivered to more than 6,500
citizens in different states of distress, from impoverishment and abuse to
homelessness. He has helped raise more than $2.5 million, distribute 4,000
pounds of food, ensured the homeless had shelter in the cold winter periods, and
connected those in need with partner non-government organizations and government
agencies with the appropriate caregiving capabilities.
Bonin has also
been a Red Cross officer for nearly seven years. He deployed as a government
liaison officer in response to the Ebola virus and led responses for both the
fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, and the category four tornado in
Granbury, Texas.
During the Ebola response, he represented all
non-government organization functions on the Dallas Unified Command team by
monitoring and coordinating solutions for the sheltering, mass care, feeding,
and the supportive counseling needs of all impacted people.
"At the peak,
there were over a hundred civilian personnel who were under different variations
of quarantine or self-monitoring," said Bonin. "The experience was very
rewarding because we thwarted failure, which would have equated to sickness and
death, as well as a large-scale epidemic and wide-spread martial
law."
His efforts did not go unnoticed and lead to a promotion as a
supervisor in training at the Dallas Fort Worth-North Texas Red
Cross.
"This operation relied heavily on relationships, communication,
and situational awareness, and we were able to rely on Brett as an accurate and
trusted source," said Larry Bushwar, the American Red Cross North Texas Ebola
Response Director, in a volunteer performance report he wrote on Bonin. "He was
instrumental in helping us translate and respond to needs for those in
isolation."
This step up the proverbial ladder is a feather in Bonin's
cap, but he considers himself a "champion of community volunteerism" and says
regardless of the recognition, he enjoys the contribution he's making to his
community and will continue to do it.
"After my work with the Ebola
response, people didn't want to shake hands with me when I went back to work and
meetings were mysteriously cancelled several weeks after I returned, he said
jokingly. "But I will continue to volunteer so that I am plugged in and prepared
to respond actively instead of watching from the sidelined in a Podunk hotel as
I did during Hurricane Katrina."
USAF. (U.S. Air Force Graphic by Rosario "Charo" Gutierrez)