Swindell Award bound for Misawa

  • Published
  • By Wayne Amann
  • Air Force ISR Agency Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  When Maj. Robert Parker assumed command of the 373rd Support Squadron at Misawa Air Base, Japan, he knew he inherited a top notch organization.

His high regard of the unit was validated Oct. 26, when he was presented with the Chief Master Sergeant James C. Swindell award recognizing his people and his unit as having the best communications and information systems operations in the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency.

The award was given during the annual AFISRA Sensor Rally Commander's Conference at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

"I'm grateful and honored we were selected to win," Parker said. "I tell them all the time they're the best squadron in the Air Force. They think I'm joking, but I figure if we put that mark out there, and continue to strive for it, the better we'll be."

The 373rd made a lasting impression during the award period.

Among the litany of accomplishments cited in its award nomination: the unit restored full mission operation communications in less than 12 hours following Japan's 9.0 earthquake. In addition other outages resulting from the disaster, they also overcame tsunami- ravaged communication link faults in less than 18 hours. Their efforts drew praise from the Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command.

The nomination also covered the complexity of the 373rd mission, how it managed its resources, the initiatives and innovations it employed to accomplish its mission and evidence of outstanding performance during the award year.

"The people did a lot of hard work this year even before I showed up for command," Parker said. "I'm not surprised at all by the level of effort they put forward."

The 373rd shoulders a considerable workload. It provides time-critical data to seven combatant commands and 15 intelligence agencies. It maintains a $1 billion information technology infrastructure consisting of more than 150 mission systems, 1,000 servers and 40 communications circuits.

Parker made it clear, "it's all about the folks who did the work."

The Chief Master Sergeant James C. Swindell award was established in 1974, in honor of the late chief considered to be the most professional communicator ever assigned to the United States Air Force Security Service, the original organization of the present day Air Force ISR Agency.

Swindell was instrumental in obtaining the first long-haul, secure, on-line circuits for the USAFSS in the early fifties. He was the prime architect behind the eventual merger of critical communications and automatic digital network trunking, considered major milestones in paving the way for the present communications capabilities of AFISRA.