NY Air Guard recognizes five Airmen of the Year – DVIDS

LATHAM, N.Y. — Five New York Air National Guard members have been named Airmen of the Year for 2023 for the 5,800-member force.

They were selected based on their achievements and overall performance over the last year across five categories.

The recognized Airmen are:

• Senior Airman Dhruva Poluru, a Herndon, Virginia resident, who is assgined to the 222nd Command and Control Squadron of the 107th Attack Wing as a mission crew chief. While the 107th is headquartered at Niagra Falls Air Reserve Station, the 222nd is headquartered at the Griffiss Technology Park in Rome. Poluru is the Airman of the Year for 2023.

• Tech. Sgt. Jarrod Becker, a resident of Rome, N.Y., who serves as a weapons director assigned to the 224th Air Defense Squadron, located at Griffiss Technology Park in Rome, is the Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year for 2023.

• Master Sgt. Justin Phillips, a Liverpool, N.Y. resident, who serves as the logistics superintendent for the 174th Attack Wing’s Security Forces Squadron at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse. Phillips is the Senior Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year for 2023.

• Senior Master Sgt. Renae Turner, a Middletown, N.Y., resident, who serves in the 105th Airlift Wing’s Operations Group, at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh. Turner was selected as the First Sergeant of the Year for 2023.

• Captain Zachary German, a resident of Oneonta who serves as the medical plans and operations officer for the 105th Airlift Wing’s 105th Medical Group at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh was selected as Company Grade Officer of the Year for 2023.

All the Airmen, except for German, will now compete against their peers in the other 53 state and territorial Air Guards, to pick the best Airmen in the entire Air Guard.

The New York Air National Guard, with five wings and the Eastern Air Defense Sector, is the largest Air National Guard in the United States.

Senior Airman Dhruva Poluru has served in the 222nd Command and Control Squadron since 2019. The unit is a part of the 107th Attack Wing but supports the National Reconnaissance Office. This is the federal agency which oversees America’s spy satellites.

Poluru is responsible for orbit threat analysis and for the command and control of over 85 commercial data providers and orbital analysts who contribute to the United States Space Force’s Space Protection and Space Defense Missions.

Poluru serves as the primary government representative to a team of 190 military, contractor, and international analysts geographically dispersed which provide Space Domain Awareness support to the Commander, United States Space Command.

He graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 2022. After attending undergraduate school in Buffalo, N.Y., he moved to Herndon, Va. while assigned to the 222d Command and Control Squadron.

Tech Sgt. Jarrod Becker serves as a weapons director evaluator and instructor for the 224th Air Defense Squadron which conducts the mission of the Eastern Air Defense Sector in Rome. The Eastern Air Defense Sector is responsible for the aerospace defense of the continental United States east of the Mississippi.

He enlisted in the Air Force in 2011 and deployed to Afghanistan twice before joining the New York Air National Guard in 2016. As a weapons director evaluator and instructor, he upholds the highest training standards and evaluates the unit’s newest weapons directors and air battle managers.

Prior to taking on his current position he served as the current operations non-commissioned officer in charge for the 224th.

Master Sgt. Justin Phillips is the logistics superintendent for the 174th Security Forces Squadron at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base. He is responsible for resource management, equipment, and readiness requirements for the unit. He also leads the squadrons combat arms section, which is responsible for training wing personnel and maintaining 500 small arms.

He enlisted in the New York Air National Guard in 2008 and deployed to Kyrgyzstan in support of operations in Afghanistan in 2009.

Prior to his current position, Phillips deployed to Qatar and led 350 security forces Airmen as the operations superintendent for the 379th Security Forces Squadron, at Al Udeid Air Base. This is the Air Force’s largest security forces unit.

Phillips was recently selected to become a commissioned officer and an MQ-9 Reaper pilot.

Senior Master Sergeant Renae Turner enlisted in the 105th Airlift Wing in 2003.

She is the First Sergeant for the 105th Operations Group and Wing Staff Agencies. An Air Force first sergeant advises the commanders on the readiness, health, welfare, and morale of Airmen and families within the unit. In addition, she works with the wing’s senior enlisted leader to ensure first sergeants and additional duty first sergeants across the wing are properly trained and equipped to support their respective units.

Additionally, she has held several additional duty and wing organization positions, to include additional duty first sergeant for the 105th Force Support Squadron and the 105th Maintenance Operations Flight.

Captain Zachary German is the Medical Plans and Operations Officer, of the 105th Airlift Wing’s 105th Medical Group Detachment 1. German is responsible for daily operations and readiness of the medical detachment and coordination for all training, exercises, and operations.

He executes the yearly training plan, which encompasses 7,300 hours of combined training and oversees the logistics readiness of the medical detachment’s multimillion-dollar inventory of pharmaceutical formulary and medical equipment. He ensures compliance with all inspections and allocates the annual budget.

He also serves as a liaison to the New York Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear response Task Force commander regarding medical operations in domestic response missions.

German entered the New York Air National Guard via direct commission into the Medical Services Corps in May of 2017 after completing bachelor’s degrees in biology and Business Administration.

He completed Health Services Administration School at Fort Sam Houston in February 2018 and earned a Master of Public Administration shortly after in May 2018.

German also serves as an instructor with the Defense Institute for Medical Operations and is the treasurer for the Air National Guard Medical Services Corps Society. German previously held roles as the operations officer for the United States Air Forces of Europe Headquarters Eastern European International Affairs Branch.

Prior to this current role, German served as a joint medical plans officer at the United States European Command to support medical efforts during Operation Allies Refuge supporting the evacuation of Afghanistan civilians and Ukraine Support Operations.