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171st wins regional award

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Sara Kaufman
  • 171st Air Refueling Wing
PITTSBURGH --  Members of the 171st Air Refueling Wing showed their support to fellow veterans at the 2010 Partners in Leadership Award Ceremony hosted by the Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania October 12, in the Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh.

This night of honor, gratitude and history helps financially support the VLP as they continue to support veterans.

A common theme for returning or retiring veterans since the Vietnam War has been loss of employment and quality of life concerns. VLP provides services to help all veterans and their families remain self-sufficient, continue to live a good quality of life, and help provide essential employment, housing and other vital supportive services.

The VLP presented Partners in Leadership Awards to include: Veteran of the Year, Patriotic Achievement Award, Chairman's Military Unit Award, Community Partnership Award, Chairman's Award and Chairman's Award (Posthumous) at the charity event.

Among those honored, the 171st ARW received the honor of the Chairman's Military Unit Award for its many missions and achievements since the 171st Air Transport Group was formed in February of 1964. Operations, such as the unit's support in Vietnam, Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm, the Gulf War, September 11, 2001, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Pacific Tanker Task Force, have lead to the 171st achieving more than 3,200 successful missions and offloading of more than 116 million pounds of fuel in support of OIF, OEF, ONE and Pacific TTF.

Acting Adjutant General of the Pennsylvania National Guard Maj. Gen. Steven Sischo was present for the ceremony and joined Wing Commander Brig. Gen. Roy Uptegraff, Vice Wing Commander Col. Steven Painter and Command Chief Master Sgt. Victor Guerra to accept the award for the 171st.