47th Communication Squadron Airman wins Air Force level award

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Nicholas Larsen
  • 47th Flying Training Wing
LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Master Sgt. David Herrera, 47th Communications Squadron (CS) network control center section chief, won the 2024 Department of the Air Force (DAF) Chief Information Officer (CIO) Outstanding Enlisted Professional of the Year.

“This award is extremely prestigious and the competition is fierce,” said 1st Lt. Riley Holt, 47th CS deputy director. “For Herrera to be recognized at the topmost level for his work speaks volumes about the importance and impact of his contributions to the Air Force and the Department of Defense’s critical mission to protect the homeland. This is a huge win for the 47th CS, Laughlin AFB, and the Air Force!”

Herrera was presented the award, which recognizes individuals for exceptional achievements in delivering capabilities and/or management practices that advance the strategic mission and objectives of the DoD CIO Digital Modernization Strategy and support the National Defense Strategy priorities, at the 2024 Department of the Air Force Information Technology and Cyberpower (DAFITC) conference in Montgomery, Alabama by Ms. Venice Goodwine, DAF CIO.

“I’ve been in [the Air Force for] 12 years and never won an award over the wing level,” said Herrera. “This was a huge honor to win this and meet the Chief Information Officer.”

As a network control center section chief, Herrera oversees 17 Airmen while managing two data centers. He also facilitated a $249,000 Secure Internet Protocol Router network redesign, a $663,000 contract that boosted training simulator bandwidth by 1000% and a $700,000 technical refresh that eliminated 18,700 network vulnerabilities.

“My primary concern is security,” said Herrera. “Making sure that all those devices are patched and our data is safe and protected played a large part in helping me win the award.”

Herrera’s actions enable the pilot production mission of the 47th Flying Training Wing, contributing to the recognition for this award. Other contributions toward his win include replacing more than 200 network switches and overseeing the complete overhaul of cable infrastructure in several buildings on base. These cables were over 60 years old and were replaced with modern fiberoptic connections decreasing the time required for maintenance by 75% and increased network bandwidth 20-fold.

“My favorite part of working here may sound funny, but I love the unique problems that occur with Laughlin,” said Herrera. “I have a saying, ‘Laughlin first,’ because we seem to get or discover problems with systems first; and we have the ‘honor’ of sharing them with the rest of AETC. We’ve had a number of problems since I’ve been here, but being able to discover those with my squadron is amazing. We want to fix these and keep the mission going.”

After winning at the Air Force Level, Herrera competed in the Department of Defense CIO Awards program where he was the only member of the Air Force to get an Honorable Mention.