Kaminski awarded Navy, Marine Corps Achievement Medal

Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Thomas J. Kaminski II, son of Sharon O. and Thomas J. Kaminski of Gaffney, was recently awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal while deployed to Al Asad, Iraq, with Marine Wing Support Squadron 172, Marine Wing Support Group 37, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa, Japan.

While deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as aviation ground support operations center watch officer, Kaminski processed more than 180 notification of work outside the wire requests in support of missions assigned to the squadron and ensured effective operational communications during 25 helicopter landing zone projects, 140 convoys and 40 other operations. During an operation to defeat Al Qaeda in the North, Kaminski served as the operations chief for Repair and Replenishment Point San Francisco where he maintained critical information flow between the squadron, Combat Logistics Battalion-6 and the ground combat element.

Kaminski is a 1992 graduate of Amsterdam (N.Y.) High School of and joined the Marine Corps in February, 1993.