MSgt. Jeffrey Gray of the 328th Airlift Squadron at Niagara Falls ARS, N.Y., has been named the Air Force’s First Sergeant of the Year for 2008, Air Force Reserve Command announced July 9. He is reportedly the first Reservist chosen for the annual award since the Air Force introduced it in 1985. Gray is a veteran of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm and a 12-year veteran firefighter in Buffalo. He recently deployed to Afghanistan for eight months with the 755th Expeditionary Mission Support Group. He will receive his award in August at the Air Force Sergeants Association’s annual convention in San Antonio.
A three-month continuing resolution that ended in December inflicted less pain on the Department of the Air Force than it had expected, as procurement and construction continue in the new year. The federal government operated under a stopgap spending measure that stretched from the beginning of the fiscal year on…