YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan -- The 374th Operations Support Squadron sports a long list of accomplishments from the 2022 fiscal year that earned them the Ronald B. McCarthy Airfield Management Facility of the Year award.
“Simply put, our mission is Airmen, airfield, and airspace,” said Lt. Col. Sean Powers, 374th OSS commander. “We’re training Airmen, running the airfield, and managing an airspace that’s roughly the size of New Jersey. We may not have a lot of aircraft here, but we’re well aware that being able to operate from this location has big implications for the entire Indo-Pacific theater.”
The 374th OSS operates one of the most trafficked airfields in the Air Force, which required some innovation. The team established the first Landing Zone Safety Officer course to be certified by the Air Force Special Operations Command, which educates four separate and essential airfield positions on how to conduct operations and set-up landing zones in austere conditions.
“It has been a complete team effort,” said Senior Master Sgt. Aaron Woods, 374th OSS senior enlisted leader. “We all have different backgrounds and have experienced different things. It’s imperative that us leaders are able to defer to those who may have more experience in certain aspects of the job.”
Winning the Airfield Management Facility of the Year wasn’t enough for these OSS Airmen, as several brought home individual awards such as Tech. Sgt. Ryan Rathke, 374th OSS deputy airfield manager, earning Airfield Management NCO of the Year, and Tech. Sgt. Linda Rinde, 374th OSS training NCO in charge, earning the Airfield Management Training Achievement of the Year.
“They’ve helped establish our culture of selflessness,” said Woods. “They serve as an example for when you put the right people, in the right place, doing the right thing … everything else will flow.”
Innovation, education, efficiency, and teamwork earned the 374th OSS this recognition and they serve as an example of what dedicated Airmen can do for the greatest Air Force in the world.