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 The maintenance unit from the 555th FS at Aviano AB in northern Italy won the Phoenix Award last November and the bragging rights as the best maintenance unit in the DoD. The 555th beat out five other DoD finalists. The unit was a major player in Operation Allied Force as well as a participant in several exercises in 1999. “We worked twelve-hour shifts during Operation Allied Force,” said SSgt. Jeffrey Anderson, 555th FS crew chief. “A lot of us would get to work an hour earlier because we wanted to see what happened when we weren’t there. When I saw that Aviano got a MiG kill, I didn’t care about the hours. I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else but the 555th.”
 The 555th maintenance unit was helped by the 31st Supply Squadron. “We couldn’t have gotten the aircraft ready without them,” said SrA. Carlos Coker, an assistant crew chief, “and we couldn’t have gotten a year’s worth of work done in eighty-nine days without everyone’s support. Winning this award means that other people see why I am here, that they feel I am doing a good job.”
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