Security forces sergeant earns prestigious award

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Stephen Delgado and Deborah Silliman Wolfe
  • Thunderbolt Staff Writers
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. - --  A Luke Air Force Base member was named as one of the Outstanding Individual Reservists of the Year recently.

Tech. Sgt. William Cullins, 56th Security Forces Squadron flight sergeant, is the recipient of this Air Force level award in the junior NCO category. More than 40 nominee packages were considered in four categories, which included Airman, junior NCO, senior NCO and officer, according to Col. Nancy Zbyszinski, Air Force Reserve Command Readiness Management Group commander.

The award winners are scheduled to attend a Reserve Officer Association conference in Washington, D.C., in February where they will be officially recognized for their achievement, according to Colonel Zbyszinski.

"It's kind of humbling, winning an Air Force-level award," said Sergeant Cullins, who is an individual mobilization augmentee. "We have reservists fi ghting overseas in the war, and I come here and manage people. It was really surprising to me that I won the award. I did a lot of good stuff while I was deployed to Luke, but there are a lot of people out there sacrificing more than I am."

Sergeant Cullins served 10 years active- duty in the Air Force, and five as a reservist. As well as currently being an IMA for the 56th SFS, he is working as a police officer with the city of Tempe, a job he went back to in September after volunteering to work active duty at Luke for 17 months.

"Security forces are hurting manning-wise, because we are heavily deployed," Sergeant Cullins said. "And I wanted to do my part to help out and fill in for deployed members."

While serving in his IMA position, Sergeant Cullins worked as a fl ight sergeant for 56th SFS, managing 74 military and civilian personnel on the swing shift, which runs 1:30 to 9:30 p.m. During his deployment to Luke, he also finished his master's degree in business management, volunteered with the Jr. ROTC, organized a group of local Cub Scouts to be mentored on law enforcement career fields at the military working dogs kennels, and went through training at the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center to become a terrorism liaison officer.

He also was the 56th SFS coordinator for the Annual SS Mayaguez Memorial honoring the fallen 56th Security Police Heroes, volunteered at the base tax center, and managed the first 56th SFS traffic enforcement team which reduced traffic violations by 30 percent. He thinks his being active in the base community helped him win the Outstanding Individual Reservist of the Year Award. Sergeant Cullins also contributes his winning the award to his fellow squadron members.

"We have outstanding writers in our squadron," he said. "Servicemembers do great things, but if those things aren't documented correctly, they might not get recognized. People in the Air Force do great things everyday and thankfully here at the 56th SFS, our chain of command takes the time to recognize us."