SrA. Allen Cherry, a public health technician assigned to the 86th Aerospace Medicine Squadron at Ramstein AB, Germany, is one of the Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airman of the Year for 2015. Cherry was selected as the Air Force Medical Service 2014 Public Health Airman of the Year while serving in the deployment medicine section. He validated over 3,000 medical requirements for 406 deployers with zero discrepancies, enabling fit and ready forces for three combatant commands and Operation United Assistance in support of the Ebola crisis in Africa. Cherry led the reintegration of 360 redeployers, coordinating a multiagency process into a one-stop shop that saved 2,000 man hours and returned airmen to their families sooner, while upholding all DOD medical requirements. As a member of the Ramstein Air Base Honor Guard, he performed 27 ceremonies while recruiting and training 11 new ceremonial Guardsmen. Air Force Magazine is shining the spotlight on each OAY in the days leading up to AFA’s Air & Space Conference, which starts Sept. 14 in National Harbor, Md.
Unlike nearly every other innovative technology throughout history, Maj. Gen. DeAnna M. Burt believes the space enterprise emerged backward. “Every other domain started with an entrepreneur who built something,” Burt, the special assistant to the Chief of Space Operations, told an audience at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference.