Senior Airman Joshua Rolando of RAF Lakenheath recently was named the 2007 logistics plans airman of the year for U.S. Air Forces in Europe. (Bryan Mitchell / S&S)
Senior Airman Joshua Rolando of RAF Lakenheath recently was named the 2007 logistics plans airman of the year for U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
Stars and Stripes caught up with the 24-year-old Champaign, Ill., native during a weekday morning as F-15s launched from the nearby flight line.
So what did you do to receive this award? Basically my job, I guess. I manage a few of the major programs that refer to deployments and readiness here on base.
Were you surprised to get the award? When I won for the wing, I was basically told that I was going to win it, but I was surprised when I won it for the region.
So will this help your career, help you make rank quicker? It will not help me make rank quicker, but I’m looking to go to OTS (Officer Training School) and it will help when I put a package together.
OTS, huh. What do you want to do? I know I would like to get paid a little more. Really, though, I would like to be a pilot, but if that doesn’t work, I would be just as happy to come back as a logistics readiness officer.
If it’s cool with you, I’m going to ask some untraditional questions to get a better idea of who you are outside of the Air Force. That’s fine.
Leno or Letterman? Definitely a Letterman guy.
Football or basketball? Definitely football.
Summer or winter? Winter.
New York or Los Angeles? New York, I think.
Porsche or Hummer? Can I say neither? I’m more of an old-school muscle car kind of guy.
Getting back to business, where do you hope to see yourself in 20 years at the end of your career? I definitely want to say I had a successful career and be able to say I did all I can to support my country. And it would be cool to have my Dad salute me. He’s a captain right now, and he did the same enlisted-to-officer thing. I want to show him up and show him what I can do. Give him something to talk about 20 years from now.
