Iowa Air Guard awarded Meritorious Unit Award

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Video by Senior Master Sgt. Vincent De Groot

Iowa Air Guard awarded Meritorious Unit Award

185th Air Refueling Wing, Iowa Air National Guard

March 4, 2023 | 3:15

B-roll video shows activities at a “Commander’s Call” event at the Iowa Air National Guard’s 185th Air Refueling Wing in Sioux City, Iowa on March 4, 2023.

At the event, unit members learned that the National Guard Bureau awarded the Meritorious Unit Award to Iowa’s two Air Wings for their participation in Retrograde Operations from Afghanistan.

The Iowa Air National Guard’s 132nd Wing in Des Moines and Sioux City’s 185th Air Refueling Wing, which includes the 133rd Test Squadron in Fort Dodge were all named in the award.

The Iowa Air Guard units received the Meritorious Unit Award for their participation in Operation Allies Refuge and Operation Allies Welcome during 2021.

Following the evacuation of Afghanistan, Iowa Air Guard members received extremely short notice orders in support of the resettling efforts and were sent to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.

During their time in New Jersey, the Iowa Airmen were helping with logistics and sustainment as part of Afghan resettlement efforts.

The commanders call event in Sioux City had several hundred Airmen from the 185th ARW in formation in the unit’s main hangar where Wing Commander, Colonel Sonya Morrison formally congratulate unit members.

At the event, Colonel Morrison also presented awards to a number of unit members for their contributions to the successful completion of a pair of recent inspections.

The inspections that had taken place over the past few months, tested the unit’s response to a nuclear emergency, along with a more recent inspection that evaluated the unit’s overall effectiveness.

Sound includes interview segments with 185th ARW Wing Commander Colonel Sony Morrison.

Lower thirds:
Colonel Sonya Morrison
185th Air Refueling Wing Commander