LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- This month, Master Sgt. David Herrera, 47th Communications Squadron network control center section chief, won the Department of the Air Force Chief Information Officer Outstanding Professional of the Year.
The award is presented to Airmen who display exceptional skill and dedication to the mission, competing against Airmen from across the Air Force.
“I was shocked, to say the least,” said Herrera. “I’ve been in [the Air Force for] 12 years and never won an award over the wing level. This was a huge honor to win this and meet the Chief Information Officer.”
As a network control center section chief, Herrera manages several parts of Laughlin's network, which includes over 5,000 devices. He also coordinated 46 authorized service interruptions with 29 units and higher headquarters, ultimately completing network upgrades without any mission stoppage and eliminating 18.7K network vulnerabilities.
“My primary concern is security,” said Herrera. “Making sure that all those devices are patched and our data is safe and protected played a large part in helping me win the award.”
Other tasks contributed to winning this award a, including replacing over 200 network switches and overseeing the complete overhaul of cable infrastructure in several buildings on base. These cables were over 60 years old and were replaced with modern fiberoptic connections. This replacement decreased the time required for maintenance by 75 percent and increased network bandwidth 20-fold.
“My favorite part of working here may sound funny, but I love the unique problems that occur with Laughlin,” said Herrera. “I have a saying, ‘Laughlin first,’ because we seem to get or discover problems with systems first; and we have the ‘honor’ of sharing them with the rest of AETC. We’ve had a number of problems since I’ve been here, but being able to discover those with my squadron is amazing. We want to fix these and keep the mission going.”