General Herbert J. “Hawk” Carlisle, Commander, Air Combat Command, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia; and Lt. Gen. Maryanne Miller, Chief of Air Force Reserve, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., and Commander, Air Force Reserve Command, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, present the Air Force Association Citation of Honor to the 19th Space Operations Squadron, Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, during the AFA Air, Space and Cyber Conference, Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2016.

The Citation of Honor was awarded to 19th SOPS for deploying five Global Positioning System navigation warfare teams, providing Combatant Commands the ability to employ the world’s most accurate, secure, anti-jam navigation signal for maximum performance of theater operations.  Additionally, they successfully launched three, $225 million dollar modernized GPS satellites, providing enhanced navigation for military and civilian users, as well as a new safety-of-life signal for search and rescue operations.

Accepting the award were several members of the 310th Space Wing and 19th SOPS. They included:

Col. Darren Buck, 310th SW vice-commander

Lt. Col. Karen Slocum, 19th SOPS commander

Lt. Col. Shanna Corbett, 19th SOPS director of operations

Maj. Nathan Case, 19th SOPS flight commander

Maj. Samantha Pittman, 19th SOPS flight commander

Maj. Drew Schafer, 19th SOPS satellite vehicle operator

Senior Master Sgt. Raul Florez, 19th SOPS operations superintendent

Master Sgt. Jeffrey Achuff, 19th SOPS flight chief

Master Sgt. Jeremy Correll, 19th SOPS flight chief

Master Sgt. Daniel Kendell, 19th SOPS flight chief

Master Sgt. Mark Portillos, 19th SOPS flight chief