MSgt. Marcus Mader, recruiting, assessments and selection superintendent with the Special Tactics Training Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., is one of the Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2016. Mader led the Special Tactics Training Squadron’s largest assault team, training 37 airmen in four Air Force specialty codes while managing an operating budget of more than $470,000. When a Louisiana National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in the Gulf of Mexico, he alerted the dive team, stood up the unit control center, and oversaw 92 dives in five days, ensuring the remains of the seven marines and four soldiers onboard were returned honorably. Additionally, he led 60 airmen through seven months of deployment preparation, pushing 22 special operations forces to three areas of responsibility, crushing ISIS with 582 strikes and an estimated 1,200 enemies killed in action. Finally, he led a local memorial and dignified transfer, raising $5,000 in a teammate’s honor. Air Force Magazine is shining the spotlight on each OAY in the days leading up to AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference, which starts Sept. 19 in National Harbor, Md. Also featured were: SMSgt. Mark Farmer, SMSgt. Jeremiah Grisham, and SMSgt. Rebecca McNelley.
Active-Duty Airmen only have a few days left to submit an official waist-to-height ratio into the Air Force’s new online application. But the service clarified July 23 that this first body composition measurement is not meant to be scored as part of the new Physical Fitness Readiness Assessment, or PFRA