AFCEC members receive national recognition

  • Published
  • By Amy Ausley
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Two members of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center team were recently honored with national awards from the Society of American Military Engineers.

Joanie Campbell, electrical controls subject matter expert at AFCEC, is the recipient of the SAME 2014 Goethals Medal given for preeminence in engineering, design or construction.

Campbell's past recognition includes earning the 2013-2014 U. S. Government Engineer of the Year award from the National Lightning Safety Institute; selection as the 2010 Distinguished Fellow for the Mississippi State University College of Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department; and selection for membership to the MSU ECE Advisory Board. 

As a member of the National Fire Protection Association 780 committee, her participation in the development of explosives facility and lightning protection and grounding requirements for airfield lighting resulted in a savings of up to $60,000 per overhead lightning protection system and up to $400,000 per airfield, for industry and military. 

Campbell also serves as the head of a delegation to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Airfield Marking and Lighting Infrastructure Panel and Air Operations Systems Working Group and is a member of two other NATO panels.

Winning this award is very personal, Campbell said.

"My entire career with the Air Force has been focused on the Airmen and maintenance personnel at base level.  They are the ones who risk their lives, do the hard work that no one else wants to do and gets the mission done in spite of political, cultural and environmental obstacles," she said.

Campbell said she's done everything within her expertise to "make their jobs easier, including asking for their inputs on designs and familiarizing myself with their working conditions" by volunteering for multiple assignments  including to  - Southwest Asia, Middle Asia and South America.

"My parents never finished high school," Campbell said, "but they instilled in me their integrity and work ethic, so in a way this award belongs to them."

She said she is "infinitely honored to be grouped with the recipients before me."

Senior Master Sgt. Rigo Chacon, career field and force development manager at AFCEC, is the recipient of the SAME 2014 Paul R. Smith Noncommissioned Officer Medal. The award is given for outstanding leadership and contributions to military engineering, and named in honor of Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith, recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions during the war on terrorism.

Chacon has served in various tactical, operational and strategic leadership positions for both joint and Air Force operations.  He has been involved in several aspects of military operations, including military construction, troop construction, base maintenance and contingency engineering. 

In Chacon's current position, he guides the professional development and competencies of 2,000 Airmen to ensure they are trained, qualified and ready to deploy and operate in any expeditionary environment, while at the same time maintaining their home-station, in-garrison readiness.

Chacon said the award's namesake is a big inspiration to him.

"It's an honor and very humbling to be a recipient of any award - let alone one named after a Medal of Honor recipient," Chacon said.  "Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith is forever remembered not only for the lives he saved, but also for his outstanding leadership and contributions to military engineering.  The award is a reflection of my past supervisors and co-workers, and the training I've received in my career."

It also serves as a guide for Chacon to "continue where SFC Smith left off -- to inspire others to do the same," he said.

The awards will be presented in Houston, Texas, May 21, at the SAME awards gala.