713th COS member captures PACAF officer of the year awards

by Capt. David Tomiyama
713th Combat Operations Squadron Public Affairs

3/24/2014 - JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- Maj. Alison Hamel, 713th Combat Operations Squadron A2 Intelligence officer, was named the 2013 Headquarters Pacific Air Forces Reserve/Guard Officer of the Year and the 2013 PACAF Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance Awards Program Reserve Officer of the Year. The awards cap off a year in which she spent the longest time in one place since 2007.

"It's definitely an honor, not so much from the perspective of winning, but the fact that people thought highly enough of me that they wanted to take the time to submit me for the award in the first place," Hamel said. "Writing up these annual packages is no quick feat."

In 2013, Hamel was critical to the PACAF intelligence community. As a traditional reservist, she spent all of 2013 supporting A2 and A5's day-to-day operations as well as exercises, humanitarian support missions and regional issues.

"Maj. Hamel has been an instrumental member of the PACAF ISR Directorate and of the A2 Operations Division total force helping bridge the gap while two active duty members are deployed," said Col. Eva Jenkins, PACAF director of ISR. "She is most deserving of the award as her expertise was key during several events including Operation Damayan, Exercise Keen Edge 2014, the Area Defense Integration Zone implementation as well as several strategy initiatives to advance the PACAF commander's theater strategy construct."

Hamel joined the 713th COS, Det. 1 in October 2012. Previously, she was an individual mobilization augmentee with the 70th ISR Wing at Fort Meade, Md., but was on military personnel appropriate orders for eight months in 2012 at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Belgium before moving to Hawaii.

After leaving active duty in 2007, Hamel rolled into the Reserves. Since 2008, she moved every few years or even twice in the same year while attached to the 70th ISRW. Some of the areas she called "home" for a period of time included: intelligence school at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas; a deployment to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan; SHAPE; and U.S. Pacific Command at Camp Smith, Hawaii. It was during her time as the Defense Intelligence Agency directorate of analysis representative to the PACOM Joint Intelligence Operations Center in 2010 that had Hamel thinking Hawaii would be the next place she would call home.

"I got MPA orders to the PACOM JIOC in 2010 and loved it here," Hamel said. "So when it was time to change to a new reserve unit, I was determined to find a billet in Hawaii and take the plunge and just move. This is the longest I have been in one place so Hawaii feels the closest to a home."

Hamel is scheduled to attend the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., for a year beginning this summer. After that, her options are open for the next adventure.

"I hope to return to Hawaii and remain with the 713th COS or find a joint billet PACOM," Hamel said. "Since Air Force Reserve Command is sending me to school, they may try to direct me somewhere that they think is in the best interests of the reserves and my development as an officer. That's the great things about the reserves---I can always say no and choose my own adventure!"