Nellis innkeeper receives award

Dick Benoit

Thursday, July 13, 2000 | 9:29 a.m.

A Nellis Air Force Base innkeeper, recently recognized as the best in Air Combat Command, has been presented the command's Individual Service Award.

Staff Sgt. Pamela Cook is lodging supervisor and reservations services specialist for the 99th Services Squadron, which oversees accommodations for visiting military personnel at the base.

Nellis, the home of the Air Force's Weapons School, Air Ground Operations School, Red Flag air combat training and electronic warfare training exercises, hosts about 72,000 guests each year.

Cook supervises a staff of six employees and is accountable for annual service contracts of more than $2.8 million. According to her former commander, Lt. Col. Joseph Whaley, Cook contributed significantly to a 98 percent customer satisfaction rate among Nellis lodgers last year.

Local sailors in sea exercise

Navy officials in San Diego report that at least three Las Vegas sailors have been participating in Exercise RIMPAC 2000, the largest maritime military exercise in the world, which concluded last week.

RIMPAC, an acronym for Rim of the Pacific, is a periodic exercise designed to bring together the military forces of various Pacific Rim nations to enhance their readiness, efficiency and interoperability.

Eskinder Gebretensia, a 1996 Valley High School graduate, is a supply supervisor aboard the guided-missile cruiser Chosin. Gebretensia, a petty officer second class, is the son of Toquabo and Jano Woldegebriel of Las Vegas.

Joseph Vargas, a 1997 Cimarron-Memorial High School graduate, participated in RIMPAC in his job as a fireman aboard the frigate Crommelin. Vargas, a seaman, is the son of Deborah Vargas of Las Vegas.

Christopher Lillian, the son of Deborah Summers of Las Vegas, is an administrative assistant aboard the guided missile cruiser Bunker Hill.

The Chosin, Crommelin and Bunker Hill are three of more than 50 ships that participated in the exercise. More than 20,000 military personnel from Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States took part.

In brief

Kendall Wachtel, who formerly attended Durango High School before moving to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, recently reported to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., for Army basic training. Wachtel, who has chosen the military police career field following her basic training, is the daughter of Robert Wachtel of Las Vegas.