The Department of the Air Force Athlete of the Year is a yearly award for the best male and female athlete of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. [1] Many winners were part of the United States Air Force World Class Athlete Program. Until 2021 it was named United States Air Force Athlete of the Year.
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the United States Armed Forces in 1947 with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the second youngest branch of the United States Armed Forces and the fourth in order of precedence. The United States Air Force articulates its core missions as air supremacy, global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.
An airman is a member of an air force or air arm of a nation's armed forces. In certain air forces, it can also refer to a specific enlisted rank. An airman can also be referred as a soldier in other definitions. As a military rank designation the male form of address also applies to women.
Lackland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located in Bexar County, Texas, United States. The base is under the jurisdiction of the 802d Mission Support Group, Air Education and Training Command (AETC) and an enclave of the city of San Antonio. It is the only site for USAF and United States Space Force enlisted Basic Military Training (BMT).
The chart below represents the current enlisted rank insignia of the United States Air Force.
The Air Force Manpower Analysis Agency (AFMAA) is a Field Operating Agency of the United States Air Force (USAF). It was reactivated in 2015 after inactivation in 2012 at Joint Base San Antonio and was assigned directly to Hq, USAF. It provided USAF leaders at all levels with tools to identify manpower required to accomplish the USAF mission.
Brigadier General Charles Edward McGee was an American fighter pilot who was one of the first African American aviators in the United States military and one of the last living members of the Tuskegee Airmen. McGee first began his career in World War II flying with the Tuskegee Airmen, an all African American military pilot group at a time of segregation in the armed forces. His military aviation career lasted 30 years in which McGee flew 409 combat missions in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War.
Alvin Roubal Luedecke was a United States Army Air Forces general during World War II. He commanded the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project after the war. After retiring from the Air Force in 1958, he was General Manager of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, Deputy Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and acting President of Texas A&M University from March 30, 1970, to November 1, 1970.
Charles Quinton Brown Jr. is a United States Air Force general who has served as the 21st chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff since October 1, 2023. Prior to his appointment, Brown served as the 22nd chief of staff of the Air Force from 2020 to 2023. Brown entered the Air Force in 1984 and served as a fighter pilot, where he has logged over 3,000 flight hours, including 130 hours in combat. He has commanded the Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Air Forces Central Command, 31st Fighter Wing, 8th Fighter Wing, U.S. Air Force Weapons School, and 78th Fighter Squadron. He has also served as deputy commander of the U.S. Central Command.
Airman first class (A1C) is the third enlisted rank in the United States Air Force, just above airman and below senior airman. The male form of rank designation also applies to women. The rank of airman first class is considered a junior enlisted rank, with the non-commissioned officers and senior non-commissioned officers above it.
Alfred K. Flowers is a retired United States Air Force major general who served in many roles, culminating as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget. At the time of his retirement, Flowers had served more than 46 years on active duty, making him the longest-serving airman in Air Force history and the longest serving African American in the history of the United States Department of Defense. Prior to his retirement, the enlisted members of Air Education and Training Command presented Flowers with the Order of the Sword, the Air Force enlisted force's highest honor for officer leadership.
Guor Mading Maker, also known as Guor Marial, is a South Sudanese Olympic track and field athlete. He is a Dinka tribesman.
Richard Eugene Cole was a United States Air Force colonel. During World War II, he was one of the airmen who took part in the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, Japan, on April 18, 1942. He served as the co-pilot to Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle in the lead airplane of the raid by sixteen B-25 bombers, which for the first time took off from an aircraft carrier on a bombing mission.
Joint Base Andrews (JBA) is a United States military facility located in Prince George's County, Maryland. The facility is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force 316th Wing, Air Force District of Washington (AFDW). The base was established in 2009, when Andrews Air Force Base and Naval Air Facility Washington were merged.
The Department of the Air Force World Class Athlete Program (WCAP) is a military program designed to support nationally and internationally ranked athlete Airmen and Guardians and prepare them to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team and compete at the highest level of international competition. Additionally, it provides current Olympians an avenue to serve the United States in a uniformed service capacity between training seasons. The program is falls under the DAF Fitness and Sports Division, Air Force Service Center, headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. Program management of WCAP and the Department of the Air Force Shooting Program moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado in the spring of 2022 to better assist athletes and to be closer to the Olympic Training Center and its sister service WCAP Program Managers and Fort Carson, Colorado.
Andrew Lawrence Donlin is an American professional handball player and a United States Air Force Captain. His nickname is Captain America.
Dana Pounds is an American track and field athlete competing in the javelin throw. In 2007, she competed in the women's javelin throw event at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics held in Osaka, Japan. She did not qualify to compete in the final.
Theodore P. Johnson, Jr. was an American military serviceman who served during World War II and was a Documented Original Tuskegee Airman.
The USAF Airman Heritage Museum is an aviation field museum and heritage collection of the United States Air Force located at Lackland AFB near San Antonio, Texas. The museum, along with the Security Forces Exhibit Annex, are part of the Airman Heritage Training Complex, run by the Air Education and Training Command. Its mission is to preserve and honor the history and heritage of enlisted airmen.
The Armed Forces Athlete of the Year was a yearly award for the best male and female athlete of the United States Armed Forces. Some winners were part of a World Class Athlete Program like the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program or the United States Air Force World Class Athlete Program. Since 1999 only the Athlete of the Year awards of the difference branches exists.
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