190th sweeps national awards in retention and unit career advisors

  • Published
  • By Capt. Joe Blubaugh
  • 190th Public Affairs
Two Coyotes have completed a sweep of the national awards they were competing for. Master Sgt. Richard Smith and Master Sgt. Scott Moser were recently named as the Outstanding Unit Career Advisor and Outstanding Retention Office Manager in the Air National Guard. 

"It is an exciting, yet humbling experience, to be honored by your peers," said Moser, 190th Retention Office Manager. "But this says more about the wing than it does about me. I am blessed by a phenomenal group of unit career advisors and wing leadership that allow me to have success at my job." 

Smith is one of those unit career advisors (UCA). Although it was the first time he had received a national award, he was more concerned that both he and Moser had won. 

"When I reflected on the selection process for all categories, I thought there was a good chance one of us would win," said Smith, 190th Budget Analyst. "I never would have thought they would select both of us." The 190th was the only unit that had two award recipients this year out of the nine awards given. 

Both Moser and Smith competed against the winners from all 91 ANG units in their respective categories. Each also won at several levels leading up to the national competition, first at the state level, then at one of five regional levels. For Moser, that meant he beat out 91 fellow Retention Office Managers to win the award. However, there are several UCAs at each wing, meaning Smith was competing against an original pool of 1500 advisors. 

"I was obviously very pleased and excited to be recognized by my peers," said Smith. "It was very special for me to represent the 190th." 

Moser and Smith were presented their awards at the national ANG Recruiting and Retention Workshop in February.