Operations Officer Recognized for Leadership

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jonathan Vansandt
  • 96th Aerial Port Squadron, UPAR
LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. --  When the men and women of the 96th Aerial Port Squadron hear the call "Air Power!" echo through the halls of their work centers, they know Operations Officer, Maj. Jesse K. Pearson, III is nearby.

Earlier this year, the Major with the booming battle cry was awarded the Major General Alice Astafan Air Force Reserve Component Logistics Readiness Field Grade Officer of the Year, an award validating his leadership as one of the best in Air Force Reserve Command.

Major Pearson earned this honor for his role as Ops Officer for the 96th APS at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. as well as his leadership as Aerial Port Flight Commander Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait. Supporting Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, he led a 70-person team which moved more than 275,000 passengers and 24,000 tons of cargo on 9,861 missions in 133 days throughout the area of operations.

A former active duty weapons controller, Major Pearson joined the Air Force Reserve in 1999. While serving as the squadron's operations officer, he has coordinated joint exercises with the U.S. Army, and numerous Air Force Reserve and Guard units to maintain deployment readiness. By coordinating semi-annual exercises, he ensured that the men and women in his unit were always ready to deploy.

Volunteering for the deployment to Kuwait, Major Pearson was confident he and his team had the training and skills necessary to accomplish the mission of the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing.

"I believe the troops that served with me were all leaders and experts in their fields," he said. "My job was to provide my troops with the resources needed to support the mission. I did that and they performed above and beyond mission requirements."

While deployed through two rotations, the 96th and other members of the coalition forces shattered all-time movement records moving 6,266 short tons of cargo during the month of June 2006; eliminating a 230-pallet backlog, a record that still stands.

"We knew the nuts and bolts of the operation, we just had to integrate ourselves into the mission at Ali Al Salem," said Major Pearson. "We did that well and the result of that was the movement of an extraordinary amount of cargo and passengers."

Pearson said his experience garnered him more than just an award. It taught him the importance of surrounding himself with professionals, encouraging those who stand beside him and that he should never loose sight of those down range.

"It is the mission that is most important," he said. "When you're with a team that believes that and accomplishes it on a daily basis, at the end of the day there's no better feeling."

While supporting operations, Major Pearson was also recognized by the commander of Air Force Central Command for expediting the movement of wartime cargo, implementing a new mission monitoring program and his service as Contracting Officer Technical Representative.

"This award is a validation of everyone's efforts to support the mission," he said. "I may have steered the ship, but it was the hard work and dedication of many others that insured the mission was accomplished."