By
Andrew Stackpool
Airman
of the year, CPL Troy Dawson
(MPEG video 2.89 MB)
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Airman
of the Year Corporal Troy Dawson with his wife, Sergeant
Karyn Dawson, and their very proud daughter Kaleja, 8.
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Photo
by WOFF Ken Rowland
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PTI
Corporal Troy Dawson deployed to the Middle East last year with
two aims – keep people fit and their morale up.
As a measure of his success, he received the
Airman of the Year
Award at the 2003 Air Force Proficiency and Leadership Awards
in Canberra on May 13. And he has been notified that he is to
be promoted to Sergeant.
Deployed to the MEAO with No. 382 Expeditionary Combat Support
Squadron, CPL Dawson was usually up at 5am to run two or three
fitness sessions a day and was second-in-charge of the welfare
group.
“We ensured there were plenty of after-hours activities like trivia
nights and ran a welfare store,” he said.
“At Christmas ... the Padre who plays flute, and Flight Lieutenant
Tony Cook and I, who play guitars, thought we’d run a Carols by
Candlelight concert. We had about 200 turn up – Canadians, Kiwis
and, of course, Aussies.”
He organised a Christmas Sports Day and a Boxing Day cricket game
in which he arranged a pitch made with artificial grass and sand,
and made the trophy.
“We ended in a draw at 117 runs each. I had bought a ‘genie’s
lamp’ and mounted it on a piece of wood with a plaque saying MEAO
2004. CDF General Cosgrove came down to present it,” he said.
He even auctioned a dunny door to raise about $800 for locally
employed workmen.
CPL Dawson joined the Air Force in 1987 and became a PTI in 1995.
He left in 1998 but rejoined in 2001.
