Past and current, service and love, and a complete lot of enjoyable embodied Friday’s retirement ceremony for Chief Master Sgt. Steve West, who takes a bow from the Air Force after 33 years of service.
Family and buddies, mentors and mentees, all method of dignitaries and navy brass from throughout the nation gathered on the Delta Breeze at Travis Air Force Base for the sendoff.
West, who additionally serves because the commander of the Solano department of the California Highway Patrol, formally retires Aug. 26. He can even retire from the CHP at yr’s finish.
Service, it appears, has all the time been in his blood. As the Vacaville native later defined, it’s in his DNA thanks to his dad, who served greater than 30 years at Travis.
Dedication, care, innovation and a dogged dedication punctuated his profession, his superiors stated, with West going above and past with each step.
He started his profession in 1989, becoming a member of the Air Force after graduating from highschool. Ten years later, he transferred from lively responsibility to a reservist as an Individual Mobilization Augmentee. In 2003, he transferred into the Traditional Reserve.
In January 2015, he was named the Mobilization Augmentee to the Security Forces Career Field Manager for Security Forces and has had deployments in help of Operation Desert Shield, Operation Noble Eagle and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
West presently serves because the Mobilization Augmentee to the Security Forces Career Field Manager for Headquarters United States Air Force. He is the enlisted advisor to the Director of Security Forces and offers recommendation masking the complete spectrum of safety coverage and steering for Air Force Defenders worldwide, officers stated.
He offers steering on the organizing, equipping, coaching and sustaining
mission-ready safety safeguards for area and our on-line world forces and
capabilities for North American Aerospace Defense Command, U.S.
Strategic Command and different combatant instructions all over the world.
He is chargeable for the efficient administration of greater than 38,000 complete
power enlisted navy authorizations throughout the Air Force, officers stated.
Major awards and decorations embody:
- Air Force Meritorious Service Medal
- Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters
- Air Force Achievement Medal
- Outstanding Airman of the Year Ribbon
- Iraqi Campaign Medal
- Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
- Korean Defense Service Medal
- Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon with Gold Border.
Retired (*33*) Gen. Allen J. Jamerson, former Director of Security Forces, Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection at Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., described West as an excellent airman who “made sure everybody had what they needed to be successful.”
He was greater than succesful, Jamerson stated, illustrating that sentiment by telling the story of a 192-day deployment to Iraq.
“They got their mission done,” he shared. “He brought them all back.”
He did much more vital work with Security Forces, the overall stated, all the time intent on conserving Americans secure.
He later addressed West as a “chief, coach, teacher, airman, Law Enforcement skilled, teammate, warrior, nice husband and pa, nice pal, nice airman, Chief Master Sergeant and man.
“Steve, thank you for your service.”
He subsequently offered the outgoing chief with a meritorious service medal, second oak leaf cluster, together with an official certificates of retirement.
Gen. Roy Collins, director of Security Forces, spoke of west because the “bedrock of our IMA program… He was the right guy at the right time when we needed him.”
He was additionally honored by a number of different attendees, together with the places of work of Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Solano, and Sen. John Garamendi, D-Solano.
West known as the Air Force “an experience I’ll never forget.”
He thanked a number of navy members who had assisted him in his journey, and members of the family together with his father, his spouse, Amy and his daughter, Abby, presenting every with a sentimental reward.
He mirrored on good instances and people not so good, and every part that got here in between. They made him who he’s, he stated, and gave readability: “The importance of community, relationships, faith and time.”
He additionally shared three classes:
- Fear is pure.
- The significance of being fight prepared, “to step up when called upon,” and
- The significance in weighing the place you might be in.
He additionally mirrored on his private life, giving particular thanks to his daughter, who conjures up him, he stated, and his spouse, who sacrificed a lot, together with her personal navy profession, “to take care of the family.”
He acknowledged that, although he’ll miss the Air Force, he is aware of that those that come subsequent are greater than able to main.
West additionally thanked attendees, gifting them with pins of the American flag.
“Every one of you has supported this nation in one fashion or another,” he declared, asking that the pin be a reminder to proceed.
