Naval Air Station Whiting Field (NASWF) recently announced its Sailors of the Quarter for the Second quarter fiscal year 2014. This awards program is designed to give recognition to the top performing Sailors at various levels of enlisted service. The Sailor of the Quarter is the top performing first class petty officer. The Junior Sailor of the Quarter is the best performing second class petty officer. Lastly, the Blue Jacket of the Quarter is the most impressive Sailor in the junior ranks.
Master at Arms 1st Class Shaun Ruschhaupt, Air Traffic Controller 2nd Class Mario Santis, and Air Traffic Controller 3rd Class Takiyah Watson have been respectively recognized as the Sailor, Junior Sailor, and Blue Jacket of the Quarter. These sailors are being recognized for outstanding performance while on duty and through their involvement within the community.
Ruschhaupt is currently serving as security leading petty officer for NASWF. In addition, Ruschhaupt is the command investigator, watch commander, field training officer, duty armorer, and anti-terrorism training supervisor. These duties have allowed the successful operations of the 95 composite security force personnel on base. Smooth workings with five local and three federal law agencies including NCIS.
Ruschhaupt’s department head Lt. j.g. Stephen Pakola described him as “without a doubt a true motivator, leader, and mentor.” With the demands of his job he still “encourages his shipmates to pursue off duty education.”
Air Traffic Controller 2nd Class Mario Santis’ is a facility watch supervisor, Team 1 Training Petty Officer for South Whiting Field, assistant command fitness leader, and command diversity committee chairperson. While executing these duties, his team successfully conducted 23,000 mishap-free flight operations and 1,700 ground controlled approaches. Additionally, he and his team completed a total of 1,100 hours of professional and military training. This resulted in 12 professional qualifications, and increased the number of controller qualifications by 25 percent.
Cmdr. J. A. Hutchinson, operations officer, praised Santis’ superior performance in his nomination statement by saying “Petty Officer Santis is an outstanding Sailor and Air Traffic Controller. He exhibits the finest qualities of leadership, personal example, and versatility. His proven performance, no matter what the undertaking, makes him the perfect model of the Navy’s future leaders.”
Air Traffic Controller 3rd Class Takiyah Watson is a very involved junior Sailor. Watson’s present duties are North tower local controller, North tower ground controller, North tower flight data operator/clearance delivery, flight planning supervisor, flight planning dispatcher, North whiting field team two training petty officer, a member of the diversity, navy ball, and coalition of sailors against destructive choices committees. While performing these duties, Watson was responsible for controlling and sequencing over 16,000 flight operations, and responsible for the documentation of over 700 hours of in-rate and GMT training that yielded five professional qualifications.
NAS Whiting Field Executive Officer Cmdr. Greggory Gray stated "It's always difficult to select Sailors of the Quarter from the terrific pool of quality Sailors we have at NAS Whiting Field. These three Sailors were truly outstanding, and I am impressed with their professionalism and dedication. Congratulations to those selected and to all the other candidates recommended for the award this quarter."
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Sailors of the Quarter