ARLINGTON, Va. - A California Air National Guard member was among 12 Airmen announced by the Air Force Personnel Center July 8 as an Air Force Outstanding Airmen for 2008.
Air Force officials said Senior Master Sgt. Donna Goodno was selected from a group of 33 nominees that represented all Air Force major commands, direct reporting units, field operating agencies and Air Staff agencies.
Goodno is the highest ranking Airman in the honored group, which include three senior airmen, one staff sergeant, five technical sergeants and two master sergeants.
Officials said Goodno distinguished herself as a supervisor for the California Air Guard's 147th Combat Communications Squadron in San Diego. She was nominated after earning Senior Noncommissioned Officer (SNCO) of the Year for the Air Guard. Prior to that, she was recognized by her state and unit.
"We are all very proud of her," said Chief Master Sgt. Richard Smith, command chief of the Air Guard, in a July 9 email. "She will represent the Air National Guard and the Air Force very well in the next year."
As an Air Force Outstanding Airmen, Goodno will be honored by the Air Force Association in Washington this September; although, it will not be her first trip to the nation's capital.
In May, the dark-haired and slender Goodno traveled to Washington to serve as a representative of Air Guard servicemembers during a Senate subcommittee meeting. There, she wore her dress-blue uniform and was introduced to the senators by Smith as an outstanding Airman. Then she sat through Senate testimony by the National Guard Bureau's senior leadership.
"It was quite an honor and very interesting to see," said Goodno, but added she had little time to sightsee.
Lucky for Goodno, she returned to Washington a few weeks later to be honored as one of the Air Guard's six Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2008. This time, she toured the monuments during morning jogs before joining the Air Guard's Outstanding Airmen at more than half-a-dozen formal and informal ceremonies June 15-19.
"I kind of want to ask them the same thing: 'what did you do to get here,' because it's so interesting," said Goodno of her contemporaries during the visit. "I mean, what does an Airman have to do to get to this point?"
At that time, Goodno credited her accomplishments to her leadership, her deployment to Iraq, her volunteerism in the community and her continuing education.
Last year, she earned three associate degrees after working them piecemeal through many years and between deployments for Operations Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
"I finally finished," she said with a smile.
In fact, she earned two degrees from the Community College of the Air Force and another degree in Business Administration from San Diego Mesa College. She plans to attend San Diego State University this fall while working at her Guard base.
Goodno joined the National Guard in 1992 after serving in the active-duty Air Force and admitted she knew nothing about the Guard at that time, she first learned of the Air Guard and its combat communication positions through a recruiter.
Although the cross-over into the Guard and into combat communications was "a lot of work," she said she was happy with her decision. "I liked it right from the get-go," she said.
It was a total surprise, said Goodno, that she was recognized by her unit, state, the Air Guard and finally the Air Force.
"To me, I think I just did my job, that's the personality that I have: I just made it happen," said Goodno.
But officials said Goodno volunteered for Operation Enduring Freedom in 2002, and served as a communications manager in Kuwait. Then, she volunteered for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007 and deployed to Bagdad International Airport as a maintenance superintendent for the 447th Air Expeditionary Squadron (AES).
There, Goodno said she had a great commander who had the foresight to deploy all the necessary communications equipment with her. "He saw that I could do it and saw some leadership in me and that I could get the job done and let me go do things that I would normally have not done," she said.
Squadron officials there called her work outstanding and recognized her successful supervision of 27 deployed personnel by awarding her AES SNCO of the month. Goodno also volunteered her time as a notary for deployed members and supported morale events during deployed holidays.
"I'm the kind of person that if I see a lot of stuff that's not getting done, I'll just jump in, it doesn't really matter what career field it is," she said.
Speaking of her contemporaries again, Goodno stressed the importance of recognizing superior performance, especially for supervisors to manage time to submit awards and to get Airmen involved in their communities.
"I look at other people that may not have the same type of outgoing personality as me, and that person might never get recognized," she said. "I think that programs like this make it viable to get them recognition, and I do think that there are people who stand out. It might not be for their military work, but it might be [for] something they did in their community or getting their degree."