AFOSI Detachment 216 named 2013 Small Detachment of the Year

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman John Nieves Camacho
  • 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  Air Force Office of Special Investigations Detachment 216, a tenant unit attached here, was recently selected to receive the AFOSI Small Detachment of the Year award.

Col. James Hudson, AFOSI 2nd field investigations region commander, notified the team March 27 of their accomplishment.

"It goes without saying that I am extremely proud of Detachment 216," said Hudson. "This is a tremendous accomplishment and is well deserved for all the hard work they've put into ensuring mission success. I couldn't be happier with the results. This is a very strong showing and proves that performance does matter, and the passion and pride Detachment 216 put into the job is noticed."

The award is granted to a small-sized OSI detachment whose work that year sets the bar for other units to follow.

"I was elated to hear we won this award," said Special Agent Gregory Gow, AFOSI Detachment 216 special agent in-charge. "I've been doing this job for 14 years and this is only the second time I've been a part of a unit who won this award."

The AFOSI provides professional investigative service to commanders of all Air Force activities. They identify, investigate and neutralize criminal, terrorist and espionage threats to Air Force and Department of Defense personnel and resources.

"A lot of people don't understand or see what we do," Gow said. "There are a lot of man hours put in. I try to articulate a lot to commanders that investigations can take anywhere from 100-600 man hours depending on the scenario. Most come after duty hours. We don't get calls about a crime scene in the middle of the day, it's usually in the middle of the night or the weekend."

Gow said an award this significant doesn't come based on one person's actions and attributed their success to the hard work and dedication of all Detachment 216 personnel.

"To see the hard work this team put in day in and day out and to get recognized for it is phenomenal, they definitely deserved it," Gow said. "The folks in this office put a lot of hours in. We have a young team here; most have only been in OSI less than two years. I've been at different units and regional levels but have not seen a unit as busy as this one."

In 2013, Detachment 216 conducted more than 1,664 investigative activities that led to the initiation of 52 felony cases. The unit also supported three bases and four wings with more than 20,000 individuals and protected $10 billion in assets.

"We process crime scenes and conduct investigative activities," Gow added. "We have to document them to explain what happened, so we can present the report and facts to the commander so they can make a decision. It has to be legally sufficient and meet certain criteria for a case to be potentially prosecuted. There is a lot of work that goes into this and it's a huge investment of these folks to dedicate that time."

Detachment 216 recently underwent a unit efficiency inspection, April 28 - May 12. A UEI evaluates bases and units for compliance with operations and procedures.

"A lot of hard work and personal sacrifice goes into what we do and it was good to see our team win the award of Small Detachment of the Year," Gow said. "The actions of the team not only won our unit the award but also earned us an excellent rating during our recent UEI. It is a total team effort; there are a lot of things we couldn't do without supporting agencies like our law enforcement partners off-base, as well as the members of the 4th Fighter Wing that help us function as well as we did to win the award and accomplish our mission."

Gow said that Detachment 216's area of responsibility spanned across 49,000 square miles through 75 counties, and that the approach AFOSI members take on cases are different from regular Airmen.

"What you see as far as crime and death scenes can sometimes be more horrific than what you see in a deployed environment," Gow said. "We see the bad and the negative more so than the good and that's our job; we ensure that the negative and disruptive activity is being kept away from our Airmen doing great things for the Air Force."

Detachment 216 will receive the award at a later date.