Maintenance group named one of the best in DOD

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Bryan Bouchard
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Defense Department officials identified the 56th Maintenance Group as one of the top seven maintenance operations in the DOD July 31. 

The award named the 56th MXG as one of two recipients in the "large unit" category, along with the 1st Maintenance Battalion at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif. 

According to Col. Algene Fryer, 56th MXG commander, the award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the men and women of not only the maintenance group, but every other Thunderbolt at Luke. 

"We are close partners with the operations, mission support and medical groups; we couldn't have done it without them," he said. "It's a total team effort." 

While the Luke mission is trainingfocused, the award puts the 56th MXG ahead of other, more combat-oriented units in the DOD. 

"This is huge from the perspective that there are a lot of great organizations out there and many are engaged in combat operations," Colonel Fryer said. "It speaks to the importance of the contribution of our unit which is training-focused." 

While at times, some parts or required support gets diverted to units outside the formal-training-realm in the Air Force, Colonel Fryer said he's proud of what the group has done with the resources available. 

"In spite of those challenges we demonstratedn that we are the best in the business at what we do," he said. "Our mission is to train the world's greatest F-16 fighter pilots and maintainers, while deploying mission ready warfighters. If we don't execute our mission as well as we do, we impact our nation's ability to contend with the global war on terror demands and other threats, and remain the preeminent air and space power force in the world." 

The award will be formally presented in November at the Secretary of Defense Maintenance Awards banquet in Orlando, Fla. 

Of the seven awards announced by DOD officials this week, one is for the top depot-level maintenance unit and the other six are for best field-level maintenance units, such as the 56th MXG. Of those six, one unit will receive what the colonel called the "grand prize," the Phoenix Award, which recognizes the unequivocal best of the best field-level maintenance unit in the Defense Department.