JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas -- Three Reserve Citizen Airmen have been selected to represent the 340th Flying Training Group at the Air Force Reserve Command level for the 2019 Lance P. Sijan Leadership Award.
The award recognizes officers and enlisted Airmen who demonstrate the highest qualities of leadership in the performance of their duties and conduct of their lives.
Group nominees include Lt. Col. Paul Farlow, 43rd Flying Training Squadron, Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi; Senior Master Sgt. Jason Wagner, 433rd Training Squadron, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas; and Tech. Sgt. Christina Rapolla, 433rd TRS, JBSA-Lackland.
Lt. Col. Paul Farlow, Reserve student liaison, flight evaluator and T-6 instructor pilot, facilitates all operational, administrative, personnel and training functions for 59 Reserve student pilots. The former E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System pilot, served for 13 years on active duty before accepting an opportunity in the Reserve. For the past year, he has served in a Total Force Integration position as the 37 Flying Training Squadron operations officer, directing 474 pilots in the execution of Air Education and Training Commands largest flying hour program. As the interim squadron commander, he also increased sortie productivity by six percent.
Senior Master Sgt. Jason Wagner, operations superintendent and a military training instructor, has served as a basic military training line instructor, supervisor, trainer and training manager, credited with training more than 100,000 new Airmen and 100 new military training instructors. He served for nearly a year as interim superintendent and MTI functional manager for the Air Force Reserve’s only MTI squadron. Originally an active duty Air Force security forces member, Sergeant Wagner deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan while assigned to Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, and also volunteered in the civilian community as an emergency medical technician and firefighter. Following separation from active duty in 2008, he was hired to teach high school in Yuma, Arizona, where he also piloted a new criminal justice program. Today, in addition to his MTI duties, he is a volunteer with the Bexar-Bulverde Volunteer Fire Department, providing firefighting and emergency medicine services for 62,000 residents.
Tech. Sgt. Christina Rapolla, MTI instructor supervisor, enlisted in the Air Force National Guard in 2003, serving as an electrical systems specialist at her first duty assignment - Anderson Air Force Base, Guam. While assigned to Anderson, she deployed twice in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, and supported other missions as well. In 2015, Rapolla cross-trained into the security forces field, and after more than a decade at Anderson, she was selected for Military Training Instructor duty with the 433rd. In her time with the unit, she has led dozens of flights, mentored 22 MTIs, earned recognition as rookie of the year, and was named the 2018 MTI of the year. During her service as an MTI, she has also earned a second associate degree, and volunteered 350 hours, generating $16,000-plus in donations for several non-profit charities.