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Airman and Family Readiness Center employee wins PACAF award

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Angelique Smythe
  • 36th Wing Public Affairs
An outstanding performer in Andersen's Airman and Family Readiness Center received a Pacific Air Forces award recently.

The 2007 PACAF Airman and Family Readiness Center Community Readiness Consultant of the Year is Bill Cundiff, a retired chief master sergeant who spends much of his time conquering the challenge of finding ways to improve the quality of life for military members and their families.

Mr. Cundiff is the career focus manager for the Airman and Family Readiness Center. His main responsibility is to help spouses with their job search process. But as a consultant, he does everything that comes through the doors of the Airman and Family Readiness Center -- financial assistance, relocation, transition, retirement, family life and crisis intervention. He is also the Andersen Retirees' Activities Officer.

One big accomplishment written in his award package was the Memorandum of Understanding that he wrote to give spouses the opportunity to go to school for free if they were dislocated.

"I've researched that project for about five years and it finally came to fruition," said Mr. Cundiff. "If a spouse was employed at their last base and came to Guam with a military member, they were classified as dislocated. So we took that definition and negotiated it with the Department of Labor downtown and came up with a Memorandum of Understanding with the governor of Guam that now allows the spouses to go to school for free and get their degree."

This was launched in January 2007 and there are a total of 35 spouses who have attended the course so far, saving them $35,000.

Mr. Cundiff has worked with the Guam Legislature to write a resolution indicating April as Spouse Appreciation Day.

He assisted in the writing of the law which says spouses who move to Guam no longer have to take a test, but, for $5, can exchange their valid driver's license for a Guam driver's license.

He was also a founding member of the Mt. Carmel Alumni and Endowment Foundation which saved Mt. Carmel Catholic School in Agat, Guam, from being closed.

"We had an enrollment of only 82; and within three months after the archbishop announced he wanted to close the school, we trippled enrollment and raised more than $150,000," he said.

Mr. Cundiff was also awarded the Exemplary Service Medal for outstanding performance.

Framed on a table in his office is a quote by Aristotle -- "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act but a habit."

"2007 was a good year for me," he said. "I want to thank my leadership for recognizing my accomplishments, and most especially, my teammates. I am honored that my efforts were recognized, but it takes a team effort to get anywhere. We all work together to make Andersen the best place to be stationed."