NAS Pensacola chapel to reopen today ... A rededication service is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. today, Feb. 28, at the Naval Aviation Memorial Chapel, which has been closed for more than a year for renovations. For more information, call 452-2341. See page B5 of Gosport for an updated list of services.
Vol. 78, No. 8
VISIT GOSPORT ONLINE: www.gosportpensacola.com
February 28, 2014
NATTC’s ABH1 Charles Ellis named Margaret Flowers Civic Award winner By Aly Altonen NASP PAO Intern
ABH1(AW/SW) Charles Ellis
The Pensacola Navy League’s annual Military Recognition Day luncheon and Margaret Flowers Civic Award ceremony was held Feb. 27 to honor all nominees for their contributions to the community. Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan was the guest speaker. This year’s winner was ABH1 Charles Ellis Jr. from Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC). He was among 12
others from NAS Pensacola who were nominated for their outstanding service to the community. Ellis manages, supervises and mentors instructors and fleet Sailors in advanced aircraft fire fighting, rescue and salvage procedures. The following summary of Ellis’ achievements is sampled from his nomination package: • Volunteered 90 hours mentoring and counseling at Youth Reach in the Escambia County Juvenile program, which led to
several at-risk young adults within the community being accepted into the U.S. military. • Volunteered to supervise 22 students providing military presence to 10 Pensacola area facilities in the recognition of Veteran’s Day at Covenant Heart of Hospice. • Dedicated 80 hours of volunteer service to the local Ronald McDonald House, assisting more than six families by preparing meals and performing home repairs and yard work. • Volunteered 48 hours and
coordinated the efforts of 22 Sailors from the NATTC, which lead to the restoration of four properties for Habitat for Humanity. • Volunteered 156 hours coaching football and soccer for Perdido Key Youth Association, mentoring and coaching the basics of good sportsmanship and the importance of physical fitness.
See Flowers on page 2 • For coverage of the Margaret Flowers nominees, see page 4
Civilians of the Year announced for NAS Pensacola By Janet Thomas Gosport Staff Writer
Two civilian employees at Naval Air Station Pensacola (NASP) got the “Oscar” treatment when they were recognized for their outstanding work in 2013. During an awards ceremony Feb. 21, NASP Commanding Officer Capt. Keith Hoskins presented awards to Christina Scott, who was selected as the command’s 2013 Senior Civilian of the Year (CoY), and Sandra Williams, who was selected as the command’s 2013 Junior Civilian of
the Year. Hoskins extended his personal congratulations for a “job well done” to each of the award winners, who each received an enthusiastic round of applause from the group of coworkers and guests gathered for the occasion. In a commendation letter, Scott was lauded for her “exceptional dedication, professionalism and superior performance” as an air traffic control specialist for the Air Operations Department at NAS Pensacola. Scott was described as
See CoYs on page 2
(Above, left) Security personnel put together information during an active shooter incident for the 2014 Solid Curtain-Citadel Shield exercise. Photo by Aly Altonen. (Right) The active shooter lurks behind a wall at the 479th Flying Training Group Headquarters. Photo by Ken Smudzinski
Exercise Solid Curtain-Citadel Shield 2014 comes to a close By Aly Altonen NASP PAO Intern
NAS Pensacola Commanding Officer Capt. Keith Hoskins, left, congratulates the NASP command’s Senior Civilian of the Year for 2013 Christina Scott (right); Junior Civilian Sandra Williams (center) looks on. Photo by EM2 Joseph Arriesgado
For the past 10 days, Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola, NAS Whiting Field, NASP Corry Station and Saufley Field have been participating in antiterrorism/ force protection exercise Solid Curtain-Citadel Shield 2014. This exercise is conducted every year by Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command and Commander, Navy Installations Command on all continental United States naval installations. The reason for Solid CurtainCitadel Shield is to ensure the readiness of Navy security forces and to train them in real-life crisis situations.
Systems around the base, such as mass communication systems and telephone and e-mail alerts were active in coordination with an active shooter exercise that took place Feb. 19 inside the 479th Flying Training Group headquarters. “It was a good event for security forces, fire emergency services and NCIS to operate together using the incident command system to communicate with the emergency operations center, who communicated on up (to Navy Region Southeast),” said Chris Steinnecker, N7 Training and Readiness coordinator at NASP. More than 100 base personnel from multiple agencies participated in just this exercise. “NCIS
was fully involved with the event from the response, to securing the crime scene, preserving evidence, interviewing the witnesses/injured, and all the way to debriefing and assisting security forces,” Steinnecker said. The active shooter scenario was one of the larger exercises held onboard NASP. Gate entry control point events were held earlier this week as well. These included security drills such as false ID checks, surveillance of the posts and gate runners. According to Steinnecker, the outcomes were favorable overall. All events were regularly scheduled exercises and were not held in response to any specific threat.
African-American/Black History Month observance ... NAS Pensacola is scheduled to hold its annual African-American/Black History Month program at the Naval Aviation Schools Command auditorium today, Feb. 28, at 11:30 a.m. Guest speaker for the event will be NASP Commanding Officer Capt. Keith Hoskins. For more information, contact SH1(SW/AW) Lajoy Battle at 452-4755.
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