911th maintainer earns two honors in one day

  • Published
  • By Maj. Shannon Mann
  • 916th Public Affairs Office
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  Dominick Tallarida will always have fond memories of August 31st. But the exact reason why might be a toss-up.

On this particular Monday in 2009, Senior Master Sgt. Tallarida became the newest chief master sergeant at the 916th Air Refueling Wing. In front of a small group of his superiors, colleagues, family and friends he tacked on the final stripe in an already long and illustrious Air Force career.

As his daughters took their turns punching on the stripes, the new chief beamed with love for his family, honor for his service and pride at the recognition bestowed upon him. But putting on that eighth stripe was not the only highlight of Chief Tallarida's day, just moments prior to the promotion ceremony he earned the bronze star.

The bronze star is awarded only to service members in combat locations who distinguish themselves through heroic acts, meritorious achievement or service in connection with military operations against an armed enemy.

Chief Tallarida distinguished himself as a combat advisor while stationed in Iraq in 2008 and 2009. He advised, trained and assisted 120 Iraqi Air Force officers and enlisted members develop maintanence capabilities for the Iraqi Air Force. His team dedicated 28,000 hours of maintanence, aircraft certification and English language proficiency training helping provide Iraq with its first fixed-wing kinetic strike capability since the end of the former regime.

Chief Tallarida's commanding officer, Lt. Col. William Uptmor presided over the promotion and pinning.

"I never knew a maintainer could get the bronze star," said Lt. Col. William Uptmor, 911th Air Refueling Squadron commander. "Since I've been here I've given out two."