49th LRS best in the Air Force

Published May 2, 2014
By Airman 1st Class Aaron Montoya
49th Wing Public Affairs

HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Holloman's Logistic Readiness Squadron is once again the best LRS in the United States Air Force. In 2013 they were awarded the Maj. Gen. Warren R. Carter Logistics Readiness Squadron Effectiveness Award, a trophy presented annually by the Order of Daedalions for having achieved the best supply effectiveness record in the U.S. Air Force in support of mission aircraft and weapons.

"The 49th LRS has now won the award three times," said Lt. Col. Robert Bearden, 49th Logistics Readiness Squadron commander. "The first time was in 1996 as the 49th Supply Squadron, which has been re-designated as the 49th LRS, and then again in 2011 and 2013."

The winner is judged on three key criteria: direct mission support, innovative management and quality of life programs.

"It's a phenomenal amount of effort that the unit has to put in. Supporting the mission of putting aircraft in the air, working within the means given to us to do the mission more efficiently, and making life better for our Airmen," said Bearden.

"The neat thing is that it's the Airmen that find the creative ways to do the mission differently, to do it better, and to make the unit and base better."

The Airmen are the key to winning this award. It is not a feat easily achieved by a few hard workers, and it takes the teamwork of an entire unit to be recognized the best in the Air Force.

"Everybody is crucial. The individual Airmen are key because as our manpower and our budgets have become smaller, we rely more and more on each of those individual Airmen to do the mission right, day in and day out, and to find better ways of doing it," said Bearden.

"It also takes good leadership, and it takes great senior noncommissioned officers, which we have. We have great SNCOs and civilians who lead these Airmen well, and it takes our Airmen to embrace the challenge of being the best."

The 49th LRS winning the Daedalion award for a third time comes with another prestige of being the second unit to win three times, and their plan is to continue being successful in the future.

"We are the second unit in the Air Force to ever achieve this feat. The other being Travis Air Force Base who has won the award in 1969, 1999 and 2008," said Bearden.

"Our plan is to keep striving for excellence, to continue to make ourselves better. We talk a lot in the Air Force about continuous process improvement and making ourselves better. The only way you can do that is by continually looking at how am I doing, am I meeting the mission and can I do this better than I am today. We are going to keep doing self-examination and make sure we are meeting the mission as best as we can."

The precedence of excellence is instituted from day one when new Airmen join the 49th LRS.

"All of our new Airmen come to us for a right start meeting, where they meet with the First Sergeant and myself," said Bearden. "One of the first things they see is our Daedalion award video, so they see the video that was created in 2011, now they will get to see the 2013 video. Also sitting on the table is the trophy, and we remind them that they are in the best LRS in the Air Force."

Another accomplishment that has been achieved by the 49th LRS is to become the first unit in the Department of Defense to earn a Green Fleet Certification from the Association of Equipment Management Professionals.

"We are the first unit in the DoD to get AEMP Green Fleet certified," said Bearden. "That was a grassroots effort within our vehicle management flight to set idle limits, get a policy for how long vehicles can idle on base, and to proactively work to get our fleet where we are using the taxpayers dollars more efficiently."

The Airmen of the 49th LRS have shown an excellent amount of effort and teamwork and have proven that they deserve the title of best in the Air Force.

"Our vision is to provide world class customer support, and that is what they do for us every day. It is very much a team effort," said Bearden.