MOFFETT AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Calif. -- Air National Guard Security Forces Squadron of the Year: an award bestowed to the best of the best in the ANG. And for 2016, the Defenders standing tall in the end hail from the 129th Security Forces Squadron.
Chosen out of a pool of over 100 different squadrons, the 129th Rescue Wing’s Security Forces Squadron took the mantle of being the Air National Guard Security Forces Unit of the year, July 18, 2017, at Moffett Air National Guard Base, Calif.
The Air National Guard Security Forces director and the career field manager hand delivered the trophy to the unit as a means to showcase the importance of the award. “When other units ask us how you do what you did it, we followed the core values and we did the job,” said Lt. Col James MacDonald, Commander, 129th Security Forces Squadron.”
“Everyone here comes here to work on the dot,” said Senior Airman Jason R. Daquina, recipient of the 2016 Outstanding Air Reserve Component Security Forces Airman of the Year award. “We are here early in the mornings and leave late at night at times, and everyone does their part.”
Tasked with multiple, back-to-back events in late 2016, Chief Master Sgt. Justin Thomson, 129th Security Forces manager, remembers such a time, noting that though it was stressful, it was also a productive time.
“To say these men and women have been tasked beyond the normal amount for an air guardsman is an understatement,” said Thomson. “Every-single person that is a part of this unit deserves this award 100 percent. At no time did any troop ever say I won’t do it, or I won’t do this.”
The 129th Security Forces Squadron has deployed over 25 Airmen to contested and austere environments within the last year, and are actively training and maintaining what California Air National Guard Commander Brigadier General Clay L. Garrison likes to call an “enterprise standard” of expectation.
“We are held to a higher standard by the American people and I expect you to meet those standards to the very top level which is why we are standing here today,” said Garrison.
The 129th SFS will continue operating towards excellence, providing them another chance to compete next year for the same award and become repeat winners.