Airman Awarded 2009 Air Force Robbie Risner Award
(February 7, 2010) |
|
|
Capt. Candice Sperry performs an equipment check on an EC-130H
Compass Call aircraft Feb. 1, 2010 at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.
Captain Sperry was recently awarded the 2009 Air Force Robbie Risner Award for
being the top weapons officer in the Air Force. Captain Sperry is with the 41st
Electronic Combat Squadron. |
|
2/3/2010 - OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. (AFNS)
Capt. Candice Sperry, a member of the 41st
Electronic Combat Squadron, at Davis-Monthan
AFB, Ariz., was awarded the 2009 Air Force
Robbie Risner Award, an honor recognizing the
service's top weapons officer.
"Captain Sperry was selected as the best of
(more than) 170 weapons officers throughout the
combat air force, mobility air forces and Air
Force Special Operations Command," said.Col.
Larry Worley Jr., 55th Electronic Combat Group
commander.
Captain Sperry is constantly working on training
programs for the ECG's electronic warfare
tactics, developing tactics improvement
proposals and instructing both in the United
States and at deployed locations, Colonel Worley
said. |
|
The annual award, created Sept. 24, 1976, is named after
retired Brig. Gen. James R. Risner, one of only four Airmen
to receive multiple awards of the Air Force Cross.
"It's such an honor to receive the Risner Award because the
award itself is based on the awardees' performance after
graduating from the Weapons Instructor Course at Nellis AFB,
Nev," Captain Sperry said.
The award looks at how each officer takes skills learned at
WIC, and how they apply those skills to make the biggest
impact on the combat air force, she said.
According to Captain Sperry's officer performance report,
during 2009 she commanded an 18-member weapons and tactics
flight and regularly assessed the combat capability of the
EC-130H Compass Call. In addition, she advised the squadron
commander on a variety of issues, mentored her fellow
electronic warfare officers and provided critical support to
numerous missions for operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring
Freedom.
Captain Sperry also attended numerous conferences,
participated in several training exercises and worked on her
master's degree.
All of this, Colonel Worley said, makes the captain an
excellent role model for her peers.
"Captain Sperry has had a tremendous impact, not just in the
ECG, but throughout the joint electronic warfare community,"
he said. "She was deployed more than 10 months (from) 2008
to 2009, and she directly developed, coordinated and fielded
EW and other operational plans with our Army, Marine and
Naval comrades that led to battlefield success in both OIF
and OEF.
"All of us in the Air Force should take pride (knowing) that
we have led the way with first-class, elite leaders such as
Captain Sperry in our service, (who) obliterate race, ethnic
and gender barriers," Colonel Worley said.
Being a weapons officer is something Captain Sperry, a
Springfield, Pa., native, said she really enjoys.
"I love it; I get to mold and define the future (not only)
through instruction and defining tactics, techniques and
procedures, but also in defining the direction of the
aircraft," she said. |
USAF SSgt. James M. Hodgman
55th Wing Public Affairs
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Valerie M. Smith
Copyright 2010 |
| |
Reprinted from
Air Force News Service
Comment on this article |
|
