ALS class donates to enlisted heritage hall

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Bryan Bouchard
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Members of the John J. Rhodes Airman Leadership School Class 09-3 left a legacy for others to follow before they graduated Feb. 12. 

"The students create a legacy by giving gifts to the school when they graduate," explained Master Sgt. Raul Villarreal, ALS Flight Chief. 

The students did this in order to add to the recently established 56th Fighter Wing Enlisted Heritage Hall, located in the ALS building. 

"We are setting up a 56th Fighter Wing Enlisted Heritage Hall," Sergeant Villarreal said. "This is something that started from the enlisted dining-in in October." 

Sergeant Villarreal explained that at the dining-in, Airmen were talking about Airman's Medal and Purple Heart recipients. One of the honorees approached them and said, "This is neat, I never knew anyone would think of me." 

"That triggered Chief Master Sgt. (Anthony) Martinez (56th Operations Group) and I to think, 'we've got to do something,'" Sergeant Villarreal said. "So, with some of the proceeds from the dining in and the Luke Airman's Fund, we got the heritage hall off the ground." 

Historically, each ALS class donates some sort of memento to the school before they graduate. It's sort of a way for each Airman to leave a mark on the institution. Class 09-3 decided to donate a shadow box to honor the late Master Sgt. Randy Gillespie, a Luke fuels technician who was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan in 2007. 

"He was an enlisted person from the base that impacted the mission directly," said Senior Airman Benjamin Lemus, from Class 09-3. 

Airman Lemus, along with class commander Staff Sgt. Jazmin Hammett, helped lead the charge to create the class 09-03 legacy gift for the enlisted heritage hall. 

"I never really thought much about our enlisted heritage until it was highlighted by our leadership," Sergeant Hammett said. "It sometimes goes unnoticed and it needs to be noticed." 

One of the crucial pieces of this shadow box is an American flag, which was flown over 
the ALS building and was brought down and folded during a retreat ceremony Feb. 12. 

Present for the event was Brig. Gen. Kurt Neubauer, 56th Fighter Wing commander, and Lisa Gillespie, Sergeant Gillespie's wife. 

"The Airmen do a retreat about three times a week ... only this time it was with a different flag, which will be included in the shadow box," Sergeant Villarreal said. 

Sergeant Villarreal thinks this addition to the enlisted heritage hall will set a new precedent for ALS classes in the future and effect what they each will donate as their own legacies. 

"That class is setting the bar, and a good bar that needs to be set," he said. 

The award winners are: 

John L. Levitow Award: Senior Airman Dustin Shideler, 161st Security Forces Squadron Distinguished graduates: Senior Airmen Brandon Gabriel, 161st SFS; Samuel Lopez, 56th Contracting Squadron; and Janessa Perugini, 56th Dental Squadron
Leadership Award: Senior Airman Benjamin Lemus, 56th Aerospace Medicine Squadron
Academic Achievement Award: Senior Airman Janessa Perugini, 56th DS
Spirit Award: Sabre Flight 

Other graduates are: 

56th Training Squadron
Staff Sgt. Anthony Allgood
56th Maintenance Operations Squadron
Senior Airmen Travis Rea and Joanna Stone
56th Component Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Karmichael Hankins
56th Equipment Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airmen David Close, Travis Lamphier, Sherise MacFeeley, Aaron Milward and Christopher Wilson
56th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airmen Bobby Elzie, Matthew Mcallister, Clayton Moreno, Rodolfo Soria and Joshua Staats
756th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airmen Derek Allen, Raphael Baylis, Jamie Case, Zachary Hildebrand, Mathew Jones, Jonathan Martell, David Myers, Gregory Pence, Marion Scott and Robert Taupier
56th Civil Engineer Squadron
Senior Airmen Thomas Barndt, John Volpicelli and Shaun Zinner; and Staff Sgt. Brent Cason
56th Communications Squadron
Senior Airmen Delavar Mckee and Heather Purcell
56th Logistics Readiness Squadron
Senior Airman Micah Loveless
607th Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Rafael Williams and Staff Sgt. Jazmin Hammett
146th Mission Support Squadron
Senior Airman Elias Neri