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Osan civilians named USFK winners

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Stuart Camp
  • 51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  Four Osan-affiliated civilians were named 2011 U.S. Forces-Korea Civilian Employees of the Year.

The winners are: John Turner, 607th Material Maintenance Squadron; Yong In Sin, 607th MMS; Su Ae Yi, 51st Operations Support Squadron; and Young Chung, 51st Maintenance Group.

USFK officials released the results Aug. 30. There were 19 civilians in 11 award categories chosen for these awards. The winners will receive special recognition at a formal ceremony Oct. 20 on U.S. Army Garrison-Yongsan.

Chung, secretary for the 51st MXG commander, found out about the award by phone during the recent operational readiness exercise.

"Colonel (Deborah) Meserve called me before I saw the message," said Chung, who has been a civil servant since 2006. She is USFK's U.S. Clerical Employee of the Year.

This is the first award Chung has gotten above the group level, she said.

"I guess it was my effort at work throughout the year," Chung said, describing why she won.

Winning the USFK Korean national Administrator of the Year is another addition to the long string of awards for Yi. The air traffic assistant has six Pacific Air Forces awards.

Yi, 51st OSS airfield operations dispatcher who has worked on Osan for 16 years, was on leave when her shop chief called to share the good news.

"Hopefully, I deserved it," Yi said humbly.

Although they don't work at Osan, the two winners from the 607th MMS are 7th Air Force employees.

Sin, a general engineer, is the 2011 Korean national Professional of the Year.
Turner, assigned at Daegu, was named U.S. Supervisor of the Year. His group of approximately 65 people provides base support during exercises and contingency operations.

"We're pretty busy for a small unit," said the 10-year civil servant. "I believe I won because we were able to carry out the Air Force mission ... through five large and four smaller exercises."

A panel of judges reviewed 92 nominations representing civilians assigned to USFK organizations and other Department of Defense units in the Republic of Korea.