Haas earns Honor Guard State Award Published Jan. 15, 2010 By Lt. Col. Tom Gee 180th FW Public Affairs Swanton, Ohio -- "You cannot win this award without having outstanding unit members supporting you," said Staff Sergeant Matthew Haas, 180th Services Craftsman, when learning that he had won the 2009 Honor Guard Program Manager of the Year for the State of Ohio. "I am humbled to have earned this award and I appreciate our team's service and what we've accomplished together," said Haas, who will now compete in the Honor Guard Program Manager of the Year award at the National Guard Bureau level. Haas, a unit member since 2003 and full-time technician with the 180th Services Sustainment Flight, is responsible for managing 14 Honor Guard personnel, a $2,500 budget and coordinates with the Wright- Patterson Air Force Base Honor Guard for various events. "It is a daunting task because the job entails providing military honors to those who have passed on, but it is a service that we need to provide," said Haas. Haas, while deployed to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar in 2007, volunteered to assist with mortuary taskings and provided military honors for transport which earned him Wing Commander recognition. Among his other key accomplishments, Haas was instrumental in developing a very informative power point presentation for the base populace to advertise and discuss the 180th Base Honor guard program, which helped to recruit five new members to the team this past year. Under his energetic leadership, the 180th Honor Guard members participated in 18 Color Guard ceremonies and 11 Honor Guard ceremonies to honor our veterans. Also under Haas, the 180th Honor Guard provided Color Guard services at several community events including the Toledo Mud Hens opening day, four Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio events honoring World War II veterans, the 2009 180th Dining Out, and a Toledo Rotary Club event. Haas, a resident of Rossford, Ohio will be starting a new full-time position at the 180th in the Human Resources area. Congratulations to Staff Sgt .Matthew Haas for earning the 2009 Honor Guard Program Manager of the year for the State of Ohio and good luck in the upcoming national competition.