FORT HOOD, Texas - Hood Army Airfield Tower brought home its first Army Aviation Association of America Air Traffic Control Facility of the Year Award following a ceremony held at Fort Rucker, Alabama, Jan. 25.
This award is given to an air traffic control tower unit for contributing greatly to safety or efficiency. It recognizes Fort Hood’s comprehensive training program and other notable group contributions.
Maj. Gen. Michael McCurry, commander of the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and chief of the Army aviation branch, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Myke Lewis, chief warrant officer of the branch, and retired Maj. Gen. William T. Crosby, president of the Army Aviation Association of America, hosted the award presentation ceremony.
“It is an honor to be a part of the team and facility that earned this prestigious award,” Carmen Church, the facility chief at Hood Tower, said. “This is confirmation that our hard work, dedication, and commitment to training soldiers does not go unnoticed.”
The award is one of several Army Aviation Association of America National Functional Awards presented annually for a specific area or specialty within the Army Aviation community.
The team at the Hood Army Airfield Tower has nearly 200 years of experience and knowledge collectively; this aids the team in working as a cohesive unit, and providing safe and efficient air traffic control support.
An air traffic controller’s mission is to ensure the safe and efficient flow of air traffic. Hood Army Airfield Tower is an element of the Fort Hood Air Traffic Control Division, which also includes Robert Gray Army Airfield Tower and Gray Army Radar Approach Control, which is a component of the National Airspace System.
“The entire Fort Hood air traffic control team is happy to be able to help keep the skies over Central Texas safe,” Mark Vick, air traffic control chief for the Fort Hood Directorate of Aviation Operations, shared, “and we are humbled and honored to receive such a prestigious award and to be chosen as amongst the best in our profession and continue our primary duty of ensuring the safety of not only U.S. Army aircraft, (but) all aircraft operating in our airspace.
“Our motivation is knowing that there is a human being on the other side of the microphone who is relying on us to get them to and from their destination safely,” Vick continued. “Additionally, we never forget that we once were young Soldiers, and we haven’t forgotten from where we came.”
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