Kadena Force Support aims for record 5th LeMay Award Published March 3, 2011 By 1st Lt. Bryan Bouchard 18th Wing Public Affairs KADENA AIR BASE, Japan -- The Air Force has selected Kadena's 18th Force Support Squadron as a finalist for the Curtis E. LeMay Award, which would make the unit the best of its kind in the entire Air Force. "We are very excited to be competing for this prestigious award," said Col. Michael Borgert, 18th FSS commander. "We have an outstanding team doing outstanding things to take care of people and we're itching to brag about it. We take great pride in making people's lives better. Now we get to show everyone why we're the best at it. "We are one of only two bases to have won the LeMay Award 4 times," the colonel said. "The other base was Clark Air Base in the Philippines, which is now closed. So we are aiming to be the first five-time winner." The Curtis E. LeMay Award was first awarded in 1965. It started as an award for the best Morale, Welfare and Recreation program in the Air Force and has evolved through the years to Services and now Force Support. "We were (Pacific Air Forces') nominee and we have made the final cut," Colonel Borgert added. "The team is only visiting the top 4 bases. They will evaluate how well we take care of people across our entire squadron; basically they'll look at how we accomplish our mission and what innovative ideas we've implemented." The colonel said his squadron has adopted the theme "Go for Go!" leading up to the inspection. This is because the Japanese word for five is pronounced "go." "You'll see our staff wearing 'Go for Go!' buttons and we'll be handing out bracelets. The more enthusiasm we can generate, the better," he said. The inspection team will arrive March 11 to begin their evaluation and Colonel Borgert hopes to get the whole base rooting for his squadron to bring home the 'go'ld.