171st ARW Safety Office Wins Top Air National Guard Honors

The 171st Air Refueling Wing Safety Office earned the Air National Guard Director of Safety Outstanding Achievement Award and Maj. Matthew R. Limina was named ANG Safety Officer of the Year for 2025, making the 171st ARW one of the top-recognized safety organizations in the ANG.

The wing claimed both honors after outpacing nearly 100 competing wing safety offices nationwide. As ANG award recipients, the 171st ARW Safety Office and Limina will advance as nominees for Department of the Air Force-level safety awards.

The recognition reflects a deliberate effort to make safety a shared value across the wing, rather than a compliance requirement managed by a single office.

The award was earned after reducing safety discrepancies by 20%, achieving nearly 100% participation in a new spot inspection program, and building a data analysis system that gives commanders real-time visibility into safety trends across the wing.

At the center of that transformation was a fundamental rethink of how inspections were conducted and tracked. The office developed a standardized, risk-based checklist methodology that made it easier for members to complete inspections. The checklist also made it easier for leadership to monitor compliance. Results feed into weekly briefings, giving commanders and supervisors direct, recurring visibility into who is completing inspections and where gaps remain, replacing informal reminders with structured accountability.

"I like to just be visible," said Dave Sparkman, the wing's occupational safety manager. "When I walk around, people are more safety-conscious."

That visibility extended to the data. The office integrated Power BI with Air Force safety databases to automate mishap trend analysis and report generation, cutting a process that once took significant time down to a single day. The capability drew interest well beyond the 171st. Other installations contacted the office to learn how the system was built, and National Guard safety leadership requested a demonstration of its capabilities.

Limina's individual recognition as ANG Safety Officer of the Year reflected his leadership in driving those initiatives and his results across some of the wing's most consequential safety challenges.

Under his leadership, total wing mishap costs fell from $208,000 to $1,200 in a single fiscal year. That reduction didn't come from a single fix. It came from disciplined trend identification and targeted follow-through. When the safety office identified trends in vehicle-related mishaps, it designated the issue as a high-interest item and conducted monthly briefings across sections until the trend reversed. When ground support assets were being damaged during aircraft taxi operations, the office worked with pilots and ground crews to establish equipment storage protocols and throttle limitations that eliminated the problem.

"We identify high-interest items," Sparkman said. "Then every month, we go to different sections and do briefings on it."

Limina also led a zero-deficiency Flight Safety Program Evaluation recognized as a best practice across the ANG, spearheaded the wing's comprehensive risk-based inspection methodology, and revamped the safety awards program to drive greater participation. His oversight of the Bird/Wildlife Aircraft Strike Hazard program across two wings produced a 20% reduction in bird strikes through flight scheduling adjustments coordinated with airfield management and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He organized a wing-wide Safety Down Day that enhanced training for more than 100 aircrew members and managed a base-wide power outage while maintaining mission readiness throughout.

For Sparkman, results like those are only possible when everyone, from the flight line to the front office, treats safety as a personal responsibility.

"Everyone has to buy into the safety culture, from leadership to the bottom and from the bottom to the leadership," he said. "If somebody isn't buying into it somewhere in between, it makes it much harder."

The message Sparkman wants every Airman to take from the recognition is straightforward.

"Safety doesn't leave at the gate," he said. "Safety is 24/7, on duty and off duty."