Sioux City, Iowa -- The 185th Air Refueling Wing of the Iowa Air National Guard in Sioux City has been awarded the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award. The Air Force Outstanding Unit Award is awarded to units that have distinguished themselves by exceptionally meritorious service. The 185th ARW earned the honor for its efforts in 2020.
“The performance of the 185th Airmen in the face of unprecedented COVID challenges was nothing less than remarkable,” said Col. Mark Muckey, the Commander of the 185th ARW. “We continued to operate at full capacity, led the Iowa Task Force West, built readiness, grew end-strength, deployed from east to west, responded to a natural disaster, flew away multiple MST exercises, and at the same time grew stronger as a team.”
The primary mission of the unit is supporting the KC-135 Stratotanker. Despite Covid-19 restrictions, the 185th ARW was still able to deploy airmen and deliver fuel around the world. Due to the unit’s excellence and readiness, inspections and deployments were executed successfully.
The 185th ARW had a strong recruitment and re-enlistment year and was able to carry out the global mission with high performance.
The unit exceeded the standard by continuing to be involved in the local community through food drives, blood drives and base honor guard involvement.
“Every single Airman at the 185th played a critical role in our success and should take pride in our extraordinary accomplishments in 2020,” said Muckey.
The 185th ARW continues to ensure morale, welfare and resiliency while also making certain the mission gets done.