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CENTAF SNCO earns transportation top honors

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Amanda Savannah
  • 9th AF/CENTAF Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Transportation may not be MSgt Adam Hutchinson's middle name, but the senior NCO works, lives and breathes as if it were, and the Air Force has noticed.

Sergeant Hutchinson, United States Central Command Air Forces logistics traffic manager, was recently named the Air Force recipient of Surface Deployment and Distribution Command's Award for Excellence in Traffic Management.

"I feel privileged to receive such an award," he said. "But I didn't win this award because of (my actions), it was because of those working with me and for me. We dealt with many issues from regionalization to cargo to (Base Realignment and Closure) and took on a lot of projects, so I couldn't have done this without them."

Sergeant Hutchinson personally received the award from Navy Capt. Jerry Twigg, SDDC director of operations, during the National Defense Transportation Association International Awards Luncheon at the Charleston Convention Center in Charleston, S.C., Sept. 19.

"I was very honored to receive the award from Captain Twigg," he said. "It was the usual shake, take and salute but it was in front of a large joint crowd of several other military (and civilian) members in the logistics field."

Although Sergeant Hutchinson's nomination was submitted while he was stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, CMSgt Timothy Jones, U.S. CENTAF superintendent of transportation, said he "came highly touted and hasn't disappointed" since his arrival at Shaw AFB, S.C. July 28. As traffic manager here, Sergeant Hutchinson is responsible for the oversight of traffic management encompassing 27 countries in the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility, which consists of the transportation and movement of passengers and cargo.

"I know his Chief didn't want to give him up, but knew working at CENTAF would be a great opportunity for him," Chief Jones said. "He's pretty outstanding and the award was given to the right person. Sergeant Hutchinson is an impressive young senior NCO who from day one has been a star performer."

Chief Jones said Sergeant Hutchinson's supervisor, SMSgt Nancy Davis, U.S. CENTAF superintendent of traffic management, is also ecstatic to have him on board.

According to his nomination package, as section chief of the Joint Personal Property Shipping Office in Anchorage, Sergeant Hutchinson championed a monumental regionalization project, absorbing a 35-percent work increase with no additional manning and with 50 percent of his flight deployed, while concurrently retrofitting present processes to unfold the contingency operations. In mid-stride of regionalization, he also geared his flight for both Unit Compliance Inspection and Logistics Standardization and Evaluation Team arrivals. His synergistic effects and desire to excel, coupled with his own compliance review, fueled the wing's "Excellent" UCI rating and garnered a stellar LSET review, with the citing "LRS ... exceptional support to the wing ... capitalized technology to manage files and shipments."

Sergeant Hutchinson also led the contract installation of a $350,000 document imaging and storage system and immediately deployed a task force, migrating paper files to electronic files and creating desktop retrieval and global access of 90,000 documents in the first month alone. Before his deployment to Sather AB, Iraq, in May, more than 500,000 documents were electronically available. He also led the activation of a legacy system overlay, automating JPPSO-carrier transactions.

While deployed, Sergeant Hutchinson served as the transportation management office flight chief and sustained the same-day movement of 400 Iraqi Armed Forces C-130 parts, enabling an 84-percent mission-capable rate. He also led the movement of 10,000 pounds of ammunition destined for Iraqi security forces battling insurgents, readied 10 tons of Navy SEAL gear for no-notice airlift, partnered with Camp Victory to extract and expedite 40,000 pounds of Air Force cargo stalled in Army staging, and expedited the movement of an armored SUV, ensuring safe transport of Iraqi Cabinet members.