Regazzi named first sergeant of the year

Published March 13, 2014
By Tech. Sgt. Douglas Hays
434th ARW Public Affairs

GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. -- When your job is people, everyone is your business, and when those people are at war, your business just got a whole lot more difficult.

Such was the case for Senior Master Sgt. Dean Regazzi, 434th Civil Engineer Squadron first sergeant, who was recently selected as the 434th Air Refueling Wing's First Sergeant of the Year for 2013.

During the year, Regazzi deployed to Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. While there, he was the first sergeant of the largest medical unit in the U.S. Central Command, supporting a medical group and two squadrons consisting of nearly 600 members.

"I had been a first sergeant for about three years before I left, but I wanted to have some active duty first sergeant experience so I could do my job at a higher level, and it definitely gave me the opportunity to do that," Regazzi recalled about his six months working at Bagram's Craig Joint Theater Hospital.
"With all the stress over there, you'd have Airmen come in crying, and it was rewarding being able to counsel them and set them back on the right path.

"I wanted everyone one of them to feel that when they left my office, they felt I personally cared and took a personal interest in helping them," he added. "Because, I truly did."

The role of a first sergeant is unique in the Air Force. They serve as an important link between the commander, enlisted personnel and support agencies, while also ensuring that enlisted Airmen understand the commander's policies, goals and objectives.

Part of the reason for the stress Regazzi's Airmen felt was because they were surrounded by some of the most horrific scenes from the modern battlefield, he said.

"Even though we weren't under small arms attack, we had mortar and rocket attacks, and we were surrounded each and every day by those that were injured by small arms fire - so much so you almost felt that you were in the battle zone with them," the first sergeant explained. "We had a very close connection with what was happening in the field."

Despite the pain and suffering around him, Regazzi was able to care for his troops, allowing for them to provide care for nearly 700 traumas and 1,200 surgeries, said Maj. Paul Brenner, 434th CES commander, who added that those efforts resulted in an amazing 99.5 percent survival rate.

"The results of our work were amazing as patients are walking out of there alive," said Regazzi. "If you're coming into our hospital, there's a good chance you're coming out of there breathing, and that's a miraculous thing."

Brenner also said Regazzi was critical to ensuring rapid response times for trauma teams as he formulating a bed-down plan for more than 600 members at five locations at Bagram.

While he did a lot of good work while deployed, Regazzi said his deployment was gut-wrenching at times as it wasn't just soldiers from the battlefield who were being treated.

"At one point we had our intensive care unit filled with children," Regazzi, who is a father of three adult children, recalled. "Here you're in a combat zone and you think you're only going to be dealing with soldiers, either ours or enemy combatants, but at one point the ICU was filled with children."

Despite the pain of seeing suffering children, Regazzi said that was one of the highlights of his deployment.

"It was good to know we helped their children," he explained. "It was so good to see the smiles on their parents faces as we cured their children's ailments."

And, supporting those who cared medically for the Afghans wasn't the only way Regazzi found to help them as he managed and volunteered for a program that taught Afghans English.

Under his leadership, he directed 560 hours of coursework for 115 Afghan students.

"It was a joint program ran between the Korean Army's provincial reconstruction team and our Air Force, and our part was to teach Afghan students English while the Koreans set up a trade school and taught them skills like construction and automotive maintenance," said the first sergeant. "That was a really positive thing for me - being able to learn their culture and help them learn valuable skills while showing the locals that we were there to help them and not hurt them."

His volunteerism didn't stop there as Regazzi helped transport wounded troops back and forth between aeromedical evacuation flights and his theater hospital, as well as organized a four-service joint medical staff self-aid buddy care rodeo.

Eleven teams participated in the course designed to add an element of fun to the training deployers must maintain. Competitors worked on medical training, physical fitness and endurance by treating and maneuvering a 180-pound mannequin throughout the course.

While his deployment is over, Regazzi said he looks back on it as an amazing experience.

"I learned more about the Air Force, and it opened me up to other parts of the service and another culture," he said. "It made me a better person, and hopefully I can bring back some of the lessons I learned to Grissom."

Back at Grissom, Regazzi was recently elected as Grissom's First Sergeant Council's secretary.

When asked about what advice he may have for Airmen, he said that when someone volunteers, they need to make sure they are doing it for the right reasons.

"Volunteer because you enjoy what you do," he continued. "Do it with no expectations of any gain, and you'll be much better for it."

He also said Airmen should manage their expectations.

"Understand things can go wrong and deal with them as they happen," Regazzi concluded. "Don't sweat the small stuff; things will work out."

With the challenges and achievements of 2013 behind him, Regazzi will now join three other 434th ARW annual award winners to compete at the numbered air force level.

The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. Airmen and aircraft from the 434th ARW routinely deploy around the world in support of the Air Force mission and U.S. strategic objectives.

Stay connected with the 434th ARW on Facebook and Twitter.

(Editor's note: Tech. Sgt. Mark R. W. Orders-Woempner, 434th ARW Public Affairs, contributed to this article)

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Regazzi named first sergeant of the year

Regazzi named first sergeant of the year

Public Affairs Staff