Airman attains rare ACE award
LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE — Perfection is often pursued but rarely obtained. Dedication, sacrifice and self-discipline become the constant companions of those seeking such lofty heights.
Such is the case for U.S. Air Force Reserve Staff Sgt. Jason Britten, a resident of Springdale and an aerospace groundequipment apprentice assigned to the 913th Maintenance Squadron, 913th Airlift Group, Little Rock Air Force Base. Britten received the prestigious ACE Award March 20 while training at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.
“The ACE award is the highest academic honor a student can receive and is earned for exceptional performance by maintaining a perfect 100 percent through an entire course,” said Chief Master Sgt. Scott Goetze, the Air Force Reserve Command training liaison and superintendent at Sheppard AFB. “To give you an idea of the difficulty involved, there have only been four others in 10 years who have achieved such academic excellence. He was the only reservist in his class and left a lasting positive impression on the other airmen and the school staff.”
Britten’s class consisted of 12 students who spent 95 academic training days in the Aerospace Ground Equipment (AGE) Apprentice Course. During that time, 14 exams in 15 blocks of instruction were administered. All exams were computer-based, while handson-training and testing were done in the classroom.
“My goal was to do the very best that I could,” said Britten, who had never heard of the ACE Award until the class started. “Mechanics has always been a passion, and I wanted to excel.”
Excelling required Britten to dedicate his time to constant study.
“The secret to my success was studying,” Britten said. “I would study every night and review class notes and homework for sections I wasn’t confident in.”
However, his time wasn’t always his own. As the ranking class member and class leader, Britten often sacrificed his personal study time to help others succeed.
“Being the class leader requires additional time to mentor and provide advice to the other classmates,” Goetze said. “In so many situations involving pipeline students, they often need simple life and career advice that our more mature reservists, such as Staff. Sgt. Britten, are well postured to provide.”
Britten admits that he started to feel pressure building as he aced each exam, but he used that pressure to narrow his focus. Additionally, he knew he had the encouragement of his peers.
“After every test, my classmates would ask what my score was. They were all very supportive of my efforts,” Britten said.
Even had he missed a few points here and there, Britten said, he would have maintained the self-discipline to stick with his goal to excel.
“No matter where you’re at, you should always do your best to succeed and strive for perfection,” Britten said. “If you do your best, even if you stumble, you won’t be far from the top.”
Britten, now back at his unit, plans on continuing to mentor others and perfect his craft.
“I’ll take this new knowledge, share it and apply it to upgrade training,” he said. “Doing so will allow me to dive more in-depth into the flight-line equipment we use to directly support the mission.”