Eastern Air Defense Sector Personnel Win Air National Guard Communications Awards

Tech. Sgt. William Stickel Named Outstanding Noncommissioned Officer; Mr. Sonepith Keoviengsamay is Outstanding Civilian Manager

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Tech Sgt. William Stickel

ROME, N.Y. (12/28/2012)(readMedia)-- An Airman and an Air National Guard civilian employee have been honored for their work at the New York Air National Guard's Eastern Air Defense Sector.

New York Air National Guard Tech. Sgt. William Stickel, a Syracuse resident, was named 2012's Outstanding Noncommissioned Officer in the cyber transport systems field.

Sonepith Keoviengsamay, of Rome, a civilian cyber security systems analyst, was named the Outstanding Civilian Manager for 2012.

The awards program, officially known as the Air Force Information Dominance awards, is administered by the National Guard Bureau's communications directorate, which oversees and manages the command, control, communications and computer systems functions of the organization across the United States.

There are more than 107,000 members of the Air National Guard .

The awards are based on performance during the fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30.

"Winning a national award in an organization as large as the Air National Guard is a tremendous accomplishment and I congratulate Sgt. Stickel and Mr. Keoviengsamay on their success," said Col. Dawne Deskins, EADS Commander.

"National awards such as these are especially noteworthy because they recognize the essential work Sgt. Stickel and Mr. Keoviengsamay do every day to protect our computer and communications systems," she said.

The awards were presented in November and increase the total number of national awards won by the Rome-based New York Air National Guard unit this calendar year to nine.

EADS personnel won three Continental North American Aerospace Defense Command/1st Air Force annual awards and six Air National Guard awards.

The Eastern Air Defense Sector is headquartered at Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome. Staffed by active-duty New York Air National Guardsmen and a Canadian Forces detachment, the unit supports the North American Aerospace Defense Command's (NORAD) integrated warning and attack assessment missions and the U.S. Northern Command's (USNORTHCOM) homeland defense mission. EADS is responsible for air sovereignty and counter-air operations over the eastern United States and directs a variety of assets to defend one million square miles of land and sea.