Two Airmen earned trophies and praise here for their abilities to keep Air Force aircraft flying and munitions ready for the mission.

Maj. Matthew Gamblin and Master Sgt. Edwin Lambert were both honored with the 2005 General Lew Allen Jr. Trophy with a presentation at the Pentagon by Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. T. Michael Moseley.

Major Gamblin earned his trophy for his contribution to sortie generation as the maintenance operations officer at Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait. During that time, he led the expeditionary maintenance squadron there with a 99 percent launch rate for more than 2,000 combat missions flown.

Sergeant Lambert was selected for the trophy for his accomplishments as the lead production supervisor at Balad Air Base, Iraq, where he and his troops launched 981 sorties for 2,629 flying hours. He was also responsible for the movement of 410 special forces, 66,790 pounds of ammunition and the capture of four high-value targets.

The General Lew Allen Jr. trophy annually recognizes base-level officers and senior NCOs in aircraft, munitions or missile maintenance directly involved in sortie generation.