Yokota driver announced as Exchange’s Pacific Region Driver of the Year

  • Published
  • By Sgt. 1st Class Jon Cupp
  • Army and Air Force Exchange Service Pacific Region Public Affairs
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --  Each day, thousands of Army and Air Force Exchange Service associates throughout the Pacific Region work to deliver, stock and shelve merchandise, supply gas and other comforts of home to Exchange facilities via airlifts, truck convoys and ships. Many times, these workers are often unseen by the nearly 234,000 military customers in the region where they serve.

Although many of these "unsung heroes" operate behind the scenes for the Exchange, for 42-year-old Tokyo-native Masaaki Tanaka, an Exchange heavy vehicle driver, recognition for his work comes after recently being named as the Exchange's Pacific Region Driver of the Year (DOTY) for 2010.

"It's an honor to be selected as the [DOTY] and it's a great opportunity to [give recognition] to the Japan Distribution Center team," said Tanaka, who garnered the award after being judged on such criteria as proficiency, miles driven in the award year and safety among many other factors.

After more than 19 years of serving Exchange customers, 14 of which have been spent as a motor vehicle operator for the Japan Distribution Center at Yokota, Tanaka has logged approximately 109,540 accident-free miles. In addition to his duties driving trucks, Tanaka has also operated other equipment at the distribution center to include using forklifts to shelve merchandise containers in the warehouse.

Each week, Tanaka drives anywhere from 100 kilometers (62 miles) to 600 kilometers (373 milies), depending upon his daily schedule, and his routes often include driving from Yokota to Camp Zama, Camp Fuji and Yokohama.

"The roads in mainland Japan are very narrow and can be very challenging to drive on," said Tanaka. "I drive on big roads, but many times there's lots of traffic so I am always looking for other routes to get around it."

The keys to his success as a safe driver, added Tanaka, include driving very carefully, watching his speed, paying attention to vehicle maintenance and always following road regulations.

For his safe driving, Tanaka was also recognized with an award from the U.S. National Safety Council and he has received numerous other awards for proficiency to include winning the Exchange's 2009 Material Handling Equipment Rodeo, which put him in the running as driver of the year and involved proficiency at operating a forklift.

In the aftermath of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit mainland Japan on March 11, Tanaka joined with other drivers and management from the Japan Distribution Center to make sure that deliveries were reaching mainland bases by March 12.

"One of our biggest challenges was making sure we could get our deliveries done quickly to make sure there were no shortages of items at Exchange facilities," said Tanaka.

In several cases during the crisis, roads were down and drivers had to take alternate routes that took longer, some up to 14 hours of driving, to ensure merchandise stayed on Exchange shelves.

"Thanks to the efforts of Tanaka and other associates like him, who worked long hours driving and making many re-supply runs, our Exchange facilities received regular recurring deliveries from our distribution center at Yokota," said Col. Mark K. White, commander of the Exchange's Pacific Region. "During the crisis, we had very few issues, no major shortages of items and our customers received uninterrupted service."

The Exchange will honor Tanaka in a DOTY ceremony at the Japan Distribution Center in November of 2011, where he will receive a new Exchange work truck, a driver-of-the-year jacket, a ring, a Superior Accomplishment Award, a cash award, a distribution poster with his image that will be placed at each Exchange Pacific distribution center and baseball cards with his image on them.

Although receiving accolades feels great, said Tanaka, the real satisfaction of his job comes from actually accomplishing the mission every day.

"What I like most about this job is having the opportunity to reach and deliver goods to our customers," Tanaka said, explaining that it is an honor to serve the Exchange's military service members and their families.