BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- Air Force Global Strike Command recently named its Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2019, recognizing the top enlisted members across the command.
Senior Master Sgt. Wilfred Morgan, a facility systems superintendent with the 5th Civil Engineer Squadron at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, won the Senior Noncommissioned Officer of the Year category.
“It’s an amazing and humbling accomplishment,” Morgan said of the award. “It validates all the things I ask of my team members and what I try to display on a daily basis, which is that ‘the sky’s the limit’ if you’re willing to work hard, have a good and positive attitude, persevere through difficult times which are learning opportunities, and are dedicated to serving and developing others.”
Morgan, a native of Washington, D.C., joined the Air Force in October of 1999, and has spent his career mentoring others.
“What I am most proud about in my career is when I became a military training leader,” Morgan said. “I had a GREAT opportunity to establish a strong Air Force foundation for so many Airmen. It also allowed me an opportunity to develop and mature as a leader.”
Mentoring others is something he still enjoys in his current job.
“My favorite thing about my job is to develop Airmen’s skills as craftsmen and supervisors, then watch them pay it forward to strengthen our WarBull and Global Striker culture,” Morgan said.
Over the past year, Morgan has worked to support that AFGSC culture and mission in a number of ways. He led 58 engineers and directed the daily maintenance of Air Force Global Strike Command’s largest lightning protection systems program. His expertise also led to the certification of 165 protection-level one assets and to the development of an Air Force level nuclear gate grounding program that was benchmarked across the command.
Additionally, he guided an airfield innovation project and created an anti-icing device for 558 taxiway light canisters. Morgan’s efforts negated $11 million in repair costs during North Dakota winters and ensured safe launch and recovery of over 1,200 sorties.
“Nothing works without a little love and touch from an engineer,” he said. “Being in a leadership position in the Civil Engineer Squadron, our team maintains and illuminates the airfield runway so our bombers can provide precision global strike sorties. Additionally we provide continuous utility systems service to over 500 facilities at Minot AFB ‘Home of the Global Striker,’ which is the only installation that houses two legs of the nuclear triad.”
While mission focus is a priority, Morgan has also worked to better himself personally and professionally, mastering a strategic deterrence course while simultaneously pursuing his project management professional certification. He utilized his course skills to direct 27 electrical craftsmen in the modernization of the wing’s $4 million nuclear command, control and communication network which expanded communication capabilities into 46 locations world-wide.
His leadership culminated in his selection as the 8th Air Force’s Lance P. Sijan nominee.