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Air Force Safety Center maintenance officer awarded Bronze Star

  • Published
  • By Darlene Cowsert
  • Air Force Safety Center
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Lt. Col. David A. Wiesner, assigned to the Weapons Safety Division, Air Force Safety Center, received the Bronze Star Medal and was promoted to the rank of colonel during a ceremony held here March 2.

Col. Richard S. Nelson, director of aviation supplier operations, Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Va., presided over the promotion ceremony and presented Wiesner the decoration for meritorious achievements as deputy commander of the 451st Expeditionary Maintenance Group, Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, from July 27, 2010, to July 26, 2011.

According to the citation, Wiesner led 900 people in all facets of maintenance production to support 126 aircraft at four operating bases throughout Afghanistan. He guided his maintainers to generate more than 32,000 combat sorties and 226,000 hours flown in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The citation further highlights Wiesner's leadership in establishing an in-theatre repair facility for HH-60 engines to provide a supply of spare engines that enabled more than 3,000 combat sorties that ultimately led to 1,300 lives saved and 1,500 assists.

"He knows his people and knows how to motivate them, teaching them to be better Airmen at every opportunity," said Nelson, who served as Wiesner's group commander in Kandahar. "He was the right guy. The smartest maintenance officer I've seen."

"That year at Kandahar ... the team we had was absolutely phenomenal," Wiesner said. "It was a pleasure to be there. We truly had a dream team."

The Bronze Star Medal, authorized by Executive Order No. 9419 on Feb. 4, 1944, is awarded to a person in any branch of the military service who, while serving in any capacity with the Armed Forces of the United States on or after December 7, 1941, shall have distinguished himself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight, in connection with military operations against an armed enemy.