An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

380th AEW First Sergeant recognized

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Brian J. Ellis
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  During a recent visit to the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, Lt. Gen. Gary North, U.S. Air Forces Central, commander, had the time to stop in and present a 380th AEW Airman with an AFCENT level award.

Master Sgt. Bruce E. Perkins, 380th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, First Sergeant, was presented the AFCENT First Sgt. of the year award for his distinguished accomplishments over the past year. Sergeant Perkins oversaw 276 Airmen from 26 different Air Force specialties in that time frame.

"The NCO's of our business are the brains, brunt and brawn of our Air Force," said General North. "If you are looking for a role model, he's the perfect one."

During his award acceptance speech, Sergeant Perkins remained humble and gave credit not to himself but those around him who helped him along the way.

"I'm not going to take credit for this, the shirt councils here have been great and it really was a team effort," he said.

Sergeant Perkins' many accomplishments include, making lodging arrangements for 520 380th ESFS members within 2 hours of arrival; leading a Combat Action Medal presentation for Combined Forces Air Component Commander, honoring a security forces Iraq war vet for saving two lives during IED attack and organizing AF and Army senior non-commissioned officer induction ceremony for 15 inductees. He was also president of the 18-member First Sergeant's Council, transitioning 1,500 Airmen and Soldiers to joint operations and teamed with 380th AEW Command Chief to author successful Body Mass Index reduction program.

He was a part of several morale boosting events, collecting 300 phone cards and trip vouchers from the United Service Organizations for Airmen and gathering over 1,000 pounds of morale items from non-profit organizations. He led a self-help makeover of 26 dayrooms with new paint, furniture and carpet.

Sergeant Perkins' many other accomplishments and work to bring the Army into the joint fight shows team effort and personifies the 380th AEW motto, One Team...One Fight!