LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Haydee Gonzales, 47th Medical Operations Squadron medical standards manager, was chosen by wing leadership to be the “XLer” of the week, for the week of May 28, 2018, at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas.
The “XLer” award, presented by Col. Charlie Velino, 47th Flying Training Wing commander, is given to those who consistently make outstanding contributions to their unit and the Laughlin mission.
Gonzales stayed on top of four group’s individual medical readiness forms, or IMR, ensuring a more than 92 percent completion rate of the forms. Her work helped push Laughlin on top of Air Education and Training Command and other state side major commands in relation to IMR completion.
“The individual medical readiness is the meat and potatoes of our mission readiness,” Gonzales said. “It’s important to keep up on the form and make sure every box is green, so we can deploy a moment’s notice. It’s also important for special duties, permanent change of stations or performing a [temporary duty] requires a current and good IMR.”
She also helped review more than 35,000 permanent change of station and retraining documents, helping to clear seven ineligible requests from queue. Her observation and actions saved the wing and the Air Force approximately $154,000 in travel expenses.
“If anyone wants to retrain or PCS, it has to come through my office, which requires me to be familiar with everyone’s specific AFI’s and regulations to make sure they’re matching correctly,” she said. “I have go-go gadget hands and reach into everyone’s cookie jar in that sense.”
As an advocate for volunteer work, according to Gonzales, she was elected president of the board to a non-profit outreach program called “Casa de la Cultura,” offering community events with cultural ties. She was also vital in organizing trash removal around less frequently serviced neighborhoods and parks in town, and also helped to raise more than $15,000 for toys in a holiday toy drive.
“A lot of my volunteer work is through the organization, but spreads throughout the town as well,” she said. “The city even donated several walls for us to paint murals on as part of our beautification process along the creek this spring, and into the summer.”
Gonzales, a prior service Air Force enlisted member herself, describes how her job plays a very important role in deploying mission ready warriors, even when sometimes the work can be thankless, behind-the-scenes, or even become the bearer of bad news.
“I really love what I do, even though it’s hard sometimes when I have to be the bearer of bad news,” she said. “It’s what I did when I was active duty, and it’s what I still do now.”
For her work in fulfilling the wing’s mission of deploying mission ready warriors, helping her group efficient and effectively move Airmen to their next Air Force journeys, and for contributions to the local community of Del Rio, Gonzales has earned this week’s “XLer of the Week.”