Airman recognizes those who sacrifice

Published Jan. 18, 2011
By Senior Airman Andrew Lee
9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force-Iraq Public Affairs

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq -- Recognizing the people who sacrifice so much isn't an easy task and not something to take lightly. That's why U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Ashley Le Duc works hard to ensure every single Service member deployed to Iraq gets the recognition they rightfully deserve.

Stationed at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, Sergeant Le Duc, received a tasking to be deployed to Iraq. She had two weeks to be prepared to leave and wasn't given any direction on what mission she would be doing.

"I wasn't sure what I was going to be doing until I arrived because I was given a short notice that I was deploying," she said. Sergeant Le Duc in her fifth year on active duty, found out that she would be a J1 Awards noncommissioned officer, where she knew the job she would be doing is something she had never done before.

"Several airmen are deployed into a joint unit under their skill set," said Chief Master Sgt. Mike Hanning, ACCE-I command chief. "But on many occasions, Air Force jobs don't completely match up with Army jobs, but airmen rapidly adjust and figure out the differences and do extraordinary things. They execute above expectations, representing our core values."

Airmen constantly step out of their comfort zones and into new skill sets while in the fight to complete the mission.

"The job that I do here isn't the one that I would do back at my home station," said the Cleveland, Wis., native. "I work in outbound assignments; the only time I have ever seen awards in the Air Force was when they were being presented to someone."

Making the road a little more challenging along the way, she was deployed to a joint military unit combined with Air Force, Navy, Army and Marines.

"I had to learn all the ranks of the other branches due to the fact that I work with them and on all of the other branches' awards," said the recently promoted staff sergeant.

One of her key responsibilities is ensuring that the military members deployed get their awards in a well-timed fashion.

"We process all the awards for every Service member in Iraq," said Sergeant Le Duc.
She constantly puts in a great amount of effort in her work, as her and her unit work on more than 4,000 awards a month.

Almost half way through her deployment, Sergeant Le Duc is enjoying her new job.

"I'm glad I got the opportunity to work where I work because it's not normally an experience everyone gets," Sergeant Le Duc said. "I am proud of what I do and I appreciate what each Service member does, so it's nice to be able to give them the award that they deserve in a timely fashion."