Calling him an “ordinary airman” who stepped up “to make a difference,” Lt. Gen. Norman Seip, 12th Air Force boss, presented the Airman’s Medal last week to Maj. Trace Steyaert at Ellsworth AFB, S.D. On June 10, 2007, Steyaert had rescued a swimmer caught in a rip tide and unable to swim back to shore at Thinker’s Beach near Monrovia, Liberia, where the major had deployed to support a US Army unit. Steyaert is with the 28th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Ellsworth. (Ellsworth report by A1C Abigail Klein)
Airmen and Guardians in the Active and Reserve component, as well as civilian employees, in “mission critical and high-risk populations” are now required to receive influenza vaccinations annually to “preserve force readiness,” according to a recent Department of the Air Force memo.