1st SOCS claims two AF-level awards Published April 4, 2011 By Staff Sgt. Sarah Martinez 1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- The 1st Special Operations Communications Squadron recently won the Air Force Information Dominance Maj. Gen. Harold M. McClelland (Large Unit) and Gen. Edwin W. Rawlings (Team) Awards for 2010. The Air Force Communications and Information Maj. Gen. Harold M. McClelland (Large Unit) Award is given annually to the best large unit, 201 or more members, which has demonstrated continuous superior performance and professional excellence. In 2010, members of the 1st SOCS led a data recovering effort team after a station fire that restored more than two years worth of information vital to Combined Joint Special Operations Air Component operations. They were recognized with five best practices by the Information Assurance Awareness Program inspection team, which became a first in Air Force Network Integration Center 's IAAP inspection history. "I am extremely proud of the Airmen, men and women of the 1st SOCS," said Lt. Col. James Sahm, 1st SOCS commander. "Time and time again they have gone above and beyond servicing the communications needs of Hurlburt at home and deployed." The Air Force Communications and Information Gen. Edwin W. Rawlings (Team) Award can be attributed to the quick actions of the communication team in Port-au-Prince, Haiti just hours after the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake. "We arrived less than 24 hours after the earthquake; it was shocking," said Capt. David Stevenson, then 1st SOCS Tactical Communications Flight commander. "There was no saying 'that's not my job,' everyone worked to make the mission happen." The Haiti Relief Communications Response team of 25 1st SOCS personnel quickly established communication in less than nine minutes, and in four hours created a global link for the Joint Special Operations Air Component-Haiti. The team pioneered intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance footage via an inflatable satellite system, which delivered recordings of Haiti operations to the Air Force Special Operations Command Air Operations Center around the clock. "I was happy to be there helping, seeing the big picture of worldwide efforts combined and our critical role as a tactical unit of communicators," said Senior Airman Eguzki Fernandez, 1st SOCS tactical missions' planner. The awards will be presented at a ceremony scheduled for April 14 at Joint Base Andrews, Md.