“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s bigger than winners, winners associate with winners – world champions associate with world champions. You’re world champions, and it’s so fitting that we’re here in Colorado, the Rocky mountains, where true grit of America comes from. The cowboys, the pioneers, that established the west and the great river of Colorado. Badasses, the true grit, and this is what we’ve here, the leadership in General Glen VanHerck, true grit, John Holly, true grit, and our award winners, true grit. And it’s not our systems, if you go back to the beginnings of NORAD, the beginning of NORTHCOM, no one remembers the systems, they remember the people. You follow the grit, you follow the leadership.”
-Chairman and Founder, Riki Ellison at the 2023 NORAD and NORTHCOM Missile Warning and Defender of the Year Ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colorado on October 13th, 2023
MDAA hosted its 10th NORTHCOM NORAD Missile Warning and Missile Defender of the Year last Friday night, Oct 13th, in Colorado Springs with General VanHerck Commander of United States Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command. This legacy event recognized our best of the best for the past year in early warning and defending the United States Homeland and North America. The 100th Missile Defense Brigade, which celebrated its 20th Anniversary on October 16th, now under Command and direct man training and equipment to NORTHCOM transferring from STRATCOM in August this year. We had the first opportunity at this event to recognize the 20-year anniversary of the creation of the 100th Missile Defense Brigade which happened on October 16 2003 with their teammates for the missile defense mission of NORTHCOM NORAD.
“You guys never get the recognition you deserve. Now 20 years later we’ve got the 100th brigade operating our system and many of you in NORTHCOM operate the system too. Your mission is different and General Van Herck hit it squarely on the head. You’re defending our homeland. Our families. Our way of life. My 9 year old granddaughter. That’s what you’re doing day in and day out. And you’re doing a brilliant job. So from the bottom of my heart I say thank you to all of you. Thank you.”
-Major General (Retired) John Holly at the 2023 NORAD and NORTHCOM Missile Warning and Defender of the Year Ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colorado on October 13th, 2023
“Finally for the award winners, we expect more of you. You continue to lead your peers, you were selected because you are the best of the best and I’m going to expect you to keep doing great things for us as we go forward so thank you very much. It’s an honor to get to serve with you, everyday I get up knowing that we have the most humbling and noble mission of defending our homeland and I’m privileged to get to do that with you. Thank you.”
-General VanHerck at the 2023 NORAD and NORTHCOM Missile Warning and Defender of the Year Ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colorado on October 13, 2023
General Glen VanHerck, Lt. General Blaise Frawley, Major General Nicholas Gentile, and Brigadier General Eric Little were present to bring honor and recognition to their champions of this great mission in the defense of North America.
The 2023 NORAD and NORTHCOM Missile Warning and Defenders of the Year represents our 72nd Missile Defender of the Year ceremony that in total has recognized 896 awardees.
We are honored to announce The 2023 NORAD & NORTHCOM Missile Warning and Defenders of the Year
This year MDAA presented awards for Intelligence, Staffing, Missile, Space Domain, 100th Missile Defense Brigade and two Lifetime Achievement awards.
Capt Melissa Biel
Intel Professional of the Year
Mr. Justin Loiseau
Intel Professional of the Year
Mr. Brandon Wood
NORAD and USNORTHCOM Staff Professional of the Year
Sgt Robert Hanlon
JOC Missile and Space Domain Crew Member of the Year
LTC Colin Fleming
Missile Defense Officer of the Year
Mr. Brien Smith
Deputy Missile Defense Officer of the Year
SSG Fabian Juarez
USASMDC Staff Professional of the Year
MAJ Kent Brandsted
100th Missile Defense Brigade Crew of the Year
CPT Christopher Lucca
100th Missile Defense Brigade Crew of the Year
1LT Dardrin Qin
100th Missile Defense Brigade Crew of the Year
SSG Francisco Marrero
100th Missile Defense Brigade Crew of the Year
SGT Nicholas Fitzsenry
100th Missile Defense Brigade Crew of the Year
CW3 Andrew Knight
Lifetime Achievement
Mr. Steve Allen
Lifetime Achievement
“Look at the world today. Look at the homelands that weren’t defended, weren’t protected in Ukraine, in Israel. Here we are in the first twenty to be able to create a defense against North Korea and Iran…The truth is there and the American public has seen the truth. They want their tax dollars and they want to be defended. And we’re going forward. We’ve never spent this kind of funding and resources. This is a national imperative to be able to put down an active missile defense capability against everything.”
“We’re gonna have to be able to deter these guys—China, Russia—as the World Order is being challenged. You’re part of that generation. And you have to keep that World Order. And this is one of the great ways to do it. So I congratulate each one of you, you’re heroes. You can look back and look at the impact that you have made to make our nation safe and make our nation what it is today—the most powerful nation in the world.”
– Chairman and Founder, Riki Ellison at the 2023 NORAD and NORTHCOM Missile Warning and Defender of the Year Ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colorado on October 13th, 2023
