Military group honors standouts

A theology student who operates a cannon, a command post manager who serves on a park board, a vehicle dispatcher who coaches baseball and a survival instructor with a long string of awards as a top noncommissioned officer were honored Thursday as Armed Forces Persons of the Year.

The four were selected by the Military Affairs Committee of Greater Spokane Inc. as the top nominees in categories for active duty and Guard or Reserve units serving in the Spokane area.

The winners, chosen for their work in the military and the community, follow:

•Marine Cpl. Hayden Barkley, the assistant section chief Battery P, 5th Battalion, 14th Marines, was selected the junior enlisted guardsman or reservist. He’s responsible for the training and safety of the men in his howitzer battery within the Reserve unit and is working on a bachelor of arts degree in theology at Whitworth College.

During his interview for the award, he was asked how he fits theology with artillery. “The Marines chose artillery for me,” he replied.

Barkley also volunteers with the Camp Spaulding Youth Program, Northwood Middle School and South Pines Elementary School.

•Master Sgt. Carl Golden, command training post manager for the Washington Air National Guard’s 141st Air Refueling Wing, was the senior enlisted guardsman or reservist. He manages the wing’s “nerve center,” speaks fluent Korean and was recently named the wing’s noncommissioned officer of the year.

Golden is on the Cheney Parks and Recreation Board, serves as a Scoutmaster and is the executive secretary of his church. He is working on a master’s degree in organizational leadership and studying family and human development and systems information technology.

•Staff Sgt. James Lorenzo, of the 92nd Logistics and Readiness Squadron at Fairchild Air Force Base, was the junior enlisted person for active duty units. He’s the noncommissioned officer in charge of the vehicle dispatch operations center, a job usually held by a more senior noncom.

Outside of his duties to the operations center, Lorenzo is involved in youth activities, volunteering with Toys for Tots and the Ronald McDonald House, and coaching Little League Baseball.

•Tech. Sgt. R.C. DeLano, of the Air Force Survival School’s 22nd Training Squadron, is the senior enlisted person for active duty units. He is a survival specialist with the squadron’s standards and evaluation section.

DeLano’s superiors said his teaching ability is of the highest standards. He is active in community events and has been named the noncommissioned officer of the year in 1997, 1998 and 1999, and a noncommissioned officer of the quarter for a period in 1995, 1996, 2000 and 2001.

In 1999, as a staff sergeant at the Survival School, he received the organization’s Person of the Year award in the junior enlisted category.