News

Achieving greatness: 78th SFS defender named one of Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen

  • Published
  • By Holly Logan-Arrington
  • Robins Public Affairs

Master Sgt. Jahara Brown, superintendent of the 78th Security Forces Squadron’s Plans and Programs section, joined the Air Force nearly 20 years ago with a desire to be part of something that wouldn’t give him anything, but would allow him to earn everything.

Since that December day, this mindset has pushed Brown to accept any challenge that has crossed his path, making him the defender he is today.

The 39-year-old father of two recently garnered the honor of being named as one of the Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2019.

The Air Force Outstanding Airman program annually recognizes 12 enlisted members for superior leadership, job performance, community involvement and personal achievements.

With 10 deployments and temporary duty assignments under his hat, Brown has certainly put in the work for the accolade.

From developing an innovative process that could mitigate current threats to the Warner Robins community to saving six Airmen’s lives in a rollover vehicle accident in the deployed environment, Brown’s hard work and character stood out among the competition with his peers.

Even with all of his efforts, Brown was humble at the news of his recent achievement.

“For me, I am honored to have been selected for such an iconic award,” he said. “However, the one word that could sum it all up for me is ‘team.’ Since basic training, the Air Force has taught me something that I will take with me always and that is, no one person is great alone. So my thoughts on winning this award…is that I’m just the face of an amazing group of people that have gotten me here.”

Brown said aside from being “super excited” to learn from top leaders in the Air Force, he also looks forward to having a platform to speak with others throughout the year.  

“My main focus is that you don’t have to sacrifice who you are to achieve greatness,” he said. “You just need to know who you are to overcome obstacles.”