Southeast Asian nation honors security enterprise Soldiers

By Ms. Adriane FossAugust 11, 2015

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(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Two U.S. Soldiers have been recognized by a foreign nation's military force for outstanding contributions to their country's flight safety.

The Royal Brunei Air Force awarded Chief Warrant Officer Matthew Hobbs and Staff Sgt. Paul Wingard the status of "Flight Safety Champion (Silver Class)" for efforts that led to a better managed and safer fleet. The only higher flight safety award in the Southeast Asian nation is given to aircrew members who recover an aircraft from a potentially fatal in-flight failure or malfunction requiring an emergency landing.

Hobbs and Wingard are members of the U.S. Army Security Assistance Training Management Organization and serve on a Technical Assistance Field Team in Brunei, a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo. Borneo is the third largest island in the world and shares its land mass between Malaysia and Brunei in the north, and Indonesia to the south.

"The skills and competence of these professional Soldiers is noticeably evident. They very much understand the importance of their mission," said Mark Moen, SATMO director of regional operations.

SATMO deploys training teams to partner nations in support of the Army's Security Assistance Enterprise training objectives. It is a subordinate organization to the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command. These TAFTs are vital component of USASAC's Total Package Approach, which not only provides materiel for partner nations in the form of foreign military sales, but also refurbishment, spare parts, maintenance and training teams. All elements of USASAC, including SATMO, combine to help 145 allied countries and multinational organizations strengthen their defensive capabilities and promote democratic values throughout the globe.

The scope of TAFT missions is broad as USASAC oversees more than 5,000 foreign military sales cases with a combined program value of more than $160 billion. Moen said TAFTs can do anything form basic Soldier skills training to highly technical, very advanced military education and senior level development.

The goal of the TAFT that brought Hobbs and Wingard to the remote island nation is to support the RBAF as it introduces the Sikorsky S-70i Black Hawk into service.

"TAFT team members, living and working over the long-term, building trust with the host nation, is one of the most effective ways to build partner capacity," Moen said.

He said TAFTs are generally designed to meet a specific mission requirement, and are made up of experts in the respective field.

In this case, Hobbs is a seasoned aviator and has considerable experience flying Black Hawks in diverse operational theaters. Wingard, too, has extensive experience in operating and maintaining Black Hawk throughout the Army.

According to the award citation, it was not long after Wingard's arrival that "the Royal Brunei Air Force began to befit from a broad range of additional services provided by Staff Sgt. Wingard as he ranged his contributions to our service well beyond the TAFT agreed terms of delivery. As a direct result of his commitment, there have been steady improvements in ground handling techniques that have resulted in higher standards of safety for Black Hawk technical crews."

The citation went on to say that under Wingard's tutorage, "more coherent and invasive inspection regimes have provided improved levels of assurance regarding the general airworthiness of the fleet. His influence can also be seen in the introduction of a more effective and inclusive maintenance planning methodology and better risk assessments of new and dynamic S-70i roles."

Of Hobbs, the citation says he has identified several "flight safety concerns which he subsequently brought to the attention of the Flight Safety team and his colleagues. A notable characteristic of CWO Hobbs reporting is that rather than just identifying safety concerns alone, he does his upmost to present possible solutions to those issues, again often drawing from his extensive experience."

"There are many lessons that we as an Army have learned over decades that can be provided to our partner nations," Moen said.

The citation also noted that Hobbs has made himself "available at any time day or night, often undertaking extensive research of his own in order to provide informed support to the efforts and goals of his colleagues."

The citations note that both Soldiers have provided exceptional training on subjects ranging from bird strike hazards, meteorological dangers, unidentified aircraft, planning methodology and risk assessments.

Related Links:

U.S. Army Security Assistance Training Management Organization