HRDC members earn 931st recognition at AFRC workshop

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jason Schaap
  • 931st Air Refueling Group Public Affairs
ATLANTA --  It wasn't quite Halloween yet, but four Airmen from the 931st Air Refueling Group still walked away with the prize for best costumes.

Dressed as gas station attendants, Lt. Col. Sue Lovas, Senior Master Sgt. Pam Summers, Tech. Sgt. Marvell Summerow, and Senior Airman Brandi Brooks, earned a heritage award for their getups at a Human Resource Development Council Workshop in Atlanta.

The three-day, Air Force Reserve Command workshop ended Oct. 30. The four 931st HRDC members showed up to the bi-annual event with their coveralls and gas cans to showcase their Group's air refueling heritage.

"(The gas gear idea) just kind of came to me one day," Sergeant Summers, the 931st Education and Training chief, said. "I (originally) thought it was kind of hokey. But it worked."

The theme of the workshop was "Faithful to a Proud Heritage." More than 100 of attendees answered a challenge to promote the theme by dressing the part of their unit's heritage. The 931st's interpretation was judged the best and Airman Brooks, a health services technician assigned to the 931st Aerospace Medicine Flight, received a free weekend stay at a Marriott hotel because she was the most junior member of the 931st representatives.

Sergeant Summerow, an aircraft propulsion mechanic assigned to the 931st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, said Airman Brooks' reward was an example of an impressive effort to incorporate newer Airman into the workshop as much as possible.

"Base commanders, base command chiefs and up were interacting with the younger Airmen," Sergeant Summerow said. "It was nice to see how (lower ranking Airmen) play a role in HRDC."

Including all parts of the chain of command in the decision making process is part of a growing HRDC movement in AFRC, Sergeant Summers said. Workshop attendance this year was higher than ever, largely because "more and more units are growing their HRDCs."

Some of the units represented at the workshop, created by base realignment and closure initiatives, are among AFRC's youngest. The workshop's vast HRDC networking channels provided those units proven tips for drawing their HRDC road maps. And those same ideas should prove valuable, Sergeant Summerow said, as the 931st HRDC grows with what is expected to be a dramatic personnel increase in the Group's near future.

The 931st HRDC showed another sign its programs are emerging among the best of AFRC. The council represented 4th Air Force in the Maj. Gen. Joseph A. McNeil Leadership Award competition among small units. Councils create visual displays and submit written presentations to compete for the prestigious HRDC award.

This was the first workshop Sergeant Summers was able to leave with 931st recognition, rather than watch other units get the praise.

"That was nice," she said. "We put a lot of hard work into it."