Team BLAZE personnel receive Diamond Sharp Award

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Noe Torres
  • 14th Medical Group First Sergeant
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  The Diamond Sharp Award is a way for the first sergeants on base to pick an individual or team and recognize them for outstanding performance.

Unlike the Wing Awards Program, this is not a lengthy process of 1206s and bullet writing to ensure a candidate meets all three gradable areas, this is simply a room of first sergeants discussing an outstanding Airman or team that has stood out amongst their peers and is given out once a quarter.

The 2014 third quarter winner was Senior Airman Calvin Blakeney, 14th Security Forces Squadron, who exemplifies what an Airman in the United States Air Force stands for. He is an outstanding Security Forces member, a dedicated Honor Guardsman, and a true wingman. Blakeney was recognized on numerous occasions for the above-and-beyond manner in which he greets those entering the base, most notably by Col. John Nichols, 14th Flying Training Wing Commander, and Mr. Mark A. Smith, Air Education and Training Command appointed representative to the Commander. His dedication is second to none earning him the Columbus Air Force Base first sergeant's "Diamond Sharp Award" for the third quarter.

The 2014 fourth quarter winner was the 14th Medical Operations Squadron Aerospace Medicine flight. The AOP flight conducted a combined 232 hours of Physiology instruction for 241 aviators, conducted 25 hazardous Duty Hypobaric Chamber Flights, and successfully mitigated 11 medical reactions. They also graduated personnel from six SERE courses and amassed 11 college credit hours during off duty time. Somehow this team still found time to volunteer 318 hours to base and community events. Ultimately the AOP flight saved the Air Force $3 million in retraining costs, by teaching aviators airsickness management techniques helping boost their tolerance levels.