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380AEW Article

Air Force captain earns sister service medal

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. J.G. Buzanowski
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Sailors presented an Airman with a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal Dec. 27, at a ceremony in a hangar full of the RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft he's spent the last year supporting.

Capt. Michael Lasher, the officer in charge of the Global Hawk aircraft maintenance unit, earned the decoration because his "steadfast efforts directly contributed to an 89 percent sortie completion-rate and 93 percent mission-completion rate," according to the citation.

The Navy detachment stationed with the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing flies the Global Hawk as part of its maritime surveillance mission. As a maintenance officer, Lasher routinely supported the Sailors with technical expertise, mission support and issue resolution.

"We like to recognize anyone who helps us with our mission, regardless of service," said Senior Chief Petty Officer Steve Newman. "It's important to do that when someone goes above and beyond to help us, like Captain Lasher has."

The captain attributes the successes of his yearlong tour to the junior Airmen who worked for him and the NCOs who mentored him, highlighting the importance of safety and following technical orders when working on aircraft.

"We got it done and we got it done right," Lasher said in his acceptance speech.

Lasher grew up an "Air Force brat;" his dad was in security forces, while his mom was in aircraft maintenance and then later cross-trained to be a defender as well.

Early in his career, Lasher realized what he wanted most was to "work with and lead Airmen."

"These guys are some of the smartest maintainers I've ever seen," said Lasher, who leaves the 380th AEW for Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. "I can't believe some of the work we've been able to get done, but it all came because of their efforts."

This year the 380th AEW flew close to 1,900 intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions throughout the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.

The RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system with an integrated sensor suite that provides ISR capability worldwide. Global Hawk's mission is to provide a broad spectrum of ISR collection capability to support joint combatant forces in worldwide peacetime, contingency and wartime operations. The Global Hawk complements manned and space reconnaissance systems by providing near-real-time coverage using imagery intelligence, or IMINT, sensors.