NY State Employees recognized by 174th Attack Wing Commander for excellence

Three Division of Military and Naval Affairs employees spearheaded upgrade of heating facilities at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base

Hancock Field Air National Guard Base, Syracuse,, NY (03/01/2018) — Three New York State Department of Military and Naval Affairs employees have been recognized by Col. Michael Smith, the commander of the New York Air National Guard's 174th Attack Wing for their outstanding work in replacing outdated boilers with new fuel efficient equipment.

Employees Tom Masterson, Jason Jansen, and Tony Napolitano installed a total of five boilers in three different buildings at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base.

The old boilers were beyond their service lives of 20 years and technology. The civilian employees selected purchased, and installed the new equipment.

The Division of Military and Naval Affairs is the state agency which is responsible for the New York National Guard. State civilian employees of the agency work at National Guard facilities across the state.

On January 31st, Col Michael Smith presented the employees with the wing commander's challenge coin.

The military traditionally presents coins to service members and civilian employees to recognize outstanding work.

"Challenge coins are reserved for superior performers in the performance of their assigned duties and tasks. These individuals have performed above and beyond the call of duty to ensure mission objectives are being met, student production is maintained, and ensuring the effectiveness of daily operations," Smith said.

The boilers the three men replaced were beyond their service life of 20 years and were less than 80 percent efficient. The team designed and installed these new systems and saved over $75,000 by doing it themseleves. These extremely efficient, boilers will pay for themselves and the labor, within 7.1 years.

Tom Masterson, has been a plant utilities engineer at Hancock Field for over 10 years. He and Jason Jansen operate, maintain, and repair, heating and air-conditioning systems and equipment for the entire wing.

This includes energy conservation to identify, recommend, and develop conservation projects which reduce carbon emissions, reduce energy consumption and be economically cost effective. They ensure all equipment is repaired, installed, and will verify all proper health and safety requirements are being met and implemented.

Tony Napolitano is employed as the Liquid Fuels Maintenance Technician, and has served in this position for over a year. He monitiors systems maintenance of gasoline/diesel/jet fuel bulk storage tanks for remotely piloted aircraft and vehicle fleets.

In addition to plumbing and steam fitting, he oversees the maintenance of mechanical trades such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration units.

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