8th SFS named PACAF Outstanding Security Forces Unit

by Staff Sgt. Tong Duong
8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

3/1/2013 - KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- -- The 8th Security Forces Squadron was selected as Pacific Air Force's 2012 Outstanding Large Security Forces Unit award winner Feb. 21, 2013.

Each year, security forces squadrons around PACAF vie for the distinguished position by submitting awards packages highlighting all the events taking place in their units for the year prior.

"A lot of the achievements I think led to the award were our coordination with the Republic of Korea army and air force, and their Korean Military Police," said Lt. Col. Nathan Schalles, 8th SFS commander. "Also the efforts our Airmen took in securing aircraft crash sites and maintaining law and order here on base directly reflected that."

According to Chief Master Sgt. Jeff Vallery, 8th Security Forces Squadron manager, although this functional award has been around for more than 20 years, the large-unit award was claimed by the 8th SFS for the first time in recent years and is something they are all excited about.

"We are a large security forces squadron, but on the lower end of being qualified as large," Vallery said. "We have less than 300 personnel, as compared to one of our competitors, Osan AB, Republic of Korea, which has more than 400 members in their squadron. It is a heck of a competition when compared to many of our larger competitors, it's outstanding."

For Schalles, the constant change in manpower where members are assigned here for only a year, makes qualifying for the award challenging.

"I was extremely excited for the unit, they've worked hard and done excellent jobs with a unit that has such a high turnover, it's easy to miss a lot of the information and not capture some of it," he said. "With a lot of the great stuff they have done, it is great to recognize their hard work and it hasn't gone unnoticed."

With several units within PACAF much larger than Kunsan's SFS, to win at that level is very rewarding, the commander noted.

"It's the direct reflection of our Airmen, NCOs and officers we have here and the achievements they've accomplished," Schalles said. "We have some outstanding Airmen who have won numerous awards that individually stand out which (in turn) reflects the level of Airmen we have."