I Own This: June 2021 Nominees

PS Magazine’s I Own This campaign is designed to recognize Warfighters of all services who exemplify the highest standards of care for their assigned vehicles and equipment and contribute in meaningful ways to their unit's overall maintenance and supply posture. In short, they live and breathe readiness.

This month, we had three (3) Warfighters nominated for this program (coincidentally, all from Fort Bragg). All are deserving of this recognition. One was selected at random to get the spotlight placed on them. This month, that individual is SPC Samuel Diaz, US Army.
 

How did you come to know/observe the nominee's actions? I and other members of the Maintenance Control Team notice SPC Diaz’s hard work daily on the howitzers in the maintenance bay.

Why does this individual deserve recognition? SPC Diaz was the Gun Devil’s Maintainer of the Month for June. He was selected based on his hard work and outstanding dedication to the unit. He has tirelessly worked through two quarterly services on M119 howitzers, one semiannual service on an M119 howitzer, and one quarterly service for an M777 howitzer. He also cross-trained three (3) civilian maintenance techs to work on the howitzers, as opposed to small arms, to assist the Gun Devil battalion on services for the pacing items. SPC Diaz has been a critical asset for the Gun Devil team, and has been recognized as such.

Additional Comments: SPC Diaz has worked tirelessly to support the Gun Devil battalion, despite personnel shortages, especially vacancies in 91F billets.
 
Soldier's Name:       SGT Abdial Bidot
Unit:                          1-73 Cav. Squadron, 2 BCT, 82nd ABN DIV, Ft Bragg, NC
Position/Title:          Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic
Component:             Army/Active   
NSN or End Item:     M1165A1
Nominated by:         CW2 Steven Giorgi
Justification:           His dedication to the unit's mission was apparent through his willingness to work extended hours to return combat vehicles to the mission. He uses his ingenuity to figure out how to accomplish vehicle repairs, despite not always having the correct tools or facilities. He helped to raise an operational readiness rate from 18% to 88% within six (6) months. His most recent actions entail his quick thinking to return eight pacer vehicles to FMC status through quick-thinking. He used available resources and parts on hand to immediately conduct the repairs. This minimized the unit's pacer deadline hours and saved time spent trying to resource parts on hand throughout post.

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Soldier's Name:      SPC Avonte Gober ​
Unit:                         F Co, 3-319th AFAR, 1BCT, 82d ABN DIV, Ft Bragg, NC
Position/Title:         Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic
Component:            Army/Active      
NSN or End Item:    Wheeled vehicles / CBRN
Nominated by:        1LT Meghan Copenhaver
Justification:           SPC Gober was awarded Maintainer of the Month by the Maintenance Control Officer for the month of May. He has consistently outperformed his peers since he arrived to the unit in February. He arrived just before the unit’s JRTC rotation, learned his job in scheduled maintenance in the field, and immediately assumed additional duty as CBRN NCOIC upon redeployment back to home station. SPC Gober is extremely versatile in his skills and abilities, and has supported the Gun Devil Battalion through scheduled maintenance, and battalion container movements as the only available fork lift operator in Fury Company. His tenacity has positively influenced his fellow Paratroopers to work under stress and achieve greatness in the workplace. SPC Gober is able to get a great amount of work done under pressure while staying calm and collected. He is an outstanding Paratrooper and is a great example for his peers.