Sergeant knows his AGE, wins award Published Dec. 2, 2006 By Senior Airman Mark Orders-Woempner 434th ARW Public Affairs GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind -- When it comes to the military, there is one reservist that knows his AGE; that is, he knows his aerospace ground equipment. Tech. Sgt. Michael Johnting, 434th Maintenance Squadron AGE specialist, was recently awarded the Indiana Military Achievement Award not only for his skills in the AGE shop as an Air Reserve technician but for his entire military repertoire. The Military Achievement Award is awarded to enlisted Indiana Reserve and National Guard servicemembers selected as being outstanding by their respective units. The award is based on the servicemembers' military performance during the past year, attendance of mandatory functions, judgment, reliability, leadership, appearance, attitude and preparation for advancement. The IMAA is presented annually at the Veterans Day Banquet hosted by the Veterans Day Council of Indianapolis. According to the nomination form submitted by Sergeant Johnting's supervisors, the AGE specialist is "extremely dedicated" and "displayed outstanding professional skills, knowledge and leadership." The nomination form also noted the sergeant's significant self improvements and base and community involvement as he provided support for several events in the community while showing "vigorous leadership" and "superb personnel skills." Several of the points listed related to the sergeant's deployments to various locations world-wide in 2001, 2002 and 2003 in support of Operations Northern Watch, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring freedom. "I've been gone about every year except this last one," said Sergeant Johnting, who added that he felt honored by this award. The sergeant also stated he would not have one the award had it not been for the support he had from his fellow Airmen in his shop. "Everyone helped me," he said. "You can't do it by yourself." Commenting further on those he works with, the sergeant, who knows his AGE, gave props to those who are of a younger age. "I like working with the younger people here," stated the sergeant. "They bring in a lot of new ideas and you can learn a lot from them." Sergeant Johnting joined the Air Force in 1988 and served a four-year stint on active duty. He joined the Air Force Reserve in 1995 after a two-and-a-half year time away from service and became and ART with the 434th AGE shop in 2002. Referring to the future, Sergeant Johnting said he has many more years left in the Air Force Reserve and winning the award helped him remember why he joined in the first place. "We're here to protect the United States, which includes the state of Indiana," he stated. "Being a Reservist allows me to do that."
