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U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)

2010 Phoenix Award Winner Announced             The Department of Defense (DoD) announced the 2010 winner of the Phoenix Award, part of the 2010 Secretary of Defense Maintenance Awards, on Nov. 17, 2010, at the 2010 DoD Maintenance Symposium and Exhibition in Tampa, Fla.  The field-level maintenance award honors military maintenance organizations for outstanding performance.  The awardee is chosen from active and reserve organizations performing unit or field-level maintenance and singled out as the best of the best.             The 2010 winner of the Phoenix Award for field-level maintenance is the Marine Corps' Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 40 (MALS 40), 2nd Marine Air Wing, Cherry Point, N.C.  Activated in March 2009, MALS 40 was immediately deployed to Southern Afghanistan in support of the Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Afghanistan.  Formed from 12 commands and less than one-half the size of a normal MALS, MALS 40 provided intermediate-level supply, maintenance, and ordnance support to 79 aircraft of eight type/model/series from three separate forward operating bases.  That support consisted of 271 aviation repair capabilities inside 177 mobile maintenance facilities along with 350 pieces of support equipment.  The success of MALS 40 was crucial to the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade's effectiveness in providing the required aviation combat power and  repaired more than 60,000 aviation parts, enabling the brigade to log more than 35,000 flight hours, airlift more than 81,000 coalition and Afghan passengers, and conduct almost 30,000 sorties in a hostile combat environment.