Two AFE Airmen Win Air Force-level Awards Published Jan. 21, 2015 By Airman 1st Class Christopher Thornbury 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs McConnell Air Force Base, Kan. -- Two Airmen from the 22nd Operations Support Squadron aircrew flight equipment flight earned 2014 Air Force-level awards. Tech. Sgt. Kimberly Vaughan, 22nd OSS AFE section chief, was awarded the outstanding AFE NCO award and Senior Airman Breanna Mendoza, 22nd OSS AFE technician, was chosen as the outstanding AFE Airman for the year. "I was lucky to have people in my Air Force career to train me and get me to this point of success," said Mendoza. "I wouldn't have gotten this award if I didn't have the peers that I did to call me on my mess ups and to build me up to be this Airman." The honor of winning such a high-level award was not lost on Vaughan and Mendoza. "I have a great team that helped me reach the point that I am at," said Vaughan. "It has taken a lot of hard work and dedication to get this far." Vaughan and Mendoza saved the Air Force hundreds of thousands of dollars and cut several hundred man-hours while maintaining survival and life support equipment including helmets, life rafts and escape slides for the aircrews. "It's absolutely phenomenal to have even one, much less two, winners at the Air Force-level," said Chief Master Sgt. Jeffrey Daniels, 22nd OSS superintendent. "It definitely shows the professionalism, attention to detail and dedication our Airmen and NCOs' have that make our mission sets successful, not only at home station but around the globe."