JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD - Master Sgt. Haley Rankin, a weapons director for the Western Air Defense Sector's 225th Air Defense Squadron, Washington Air National Guard, was selected as the Air National Guard's 2024 Outstanding Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year. She is only the fifth WADS member to win the national level competition.

Rankin has over 11 years of military service, across both the active duty Air Force and Air National Guard. She joined the military in 2012 and spent most of her career overseas in Germany, Italy and the United Arab Emirates. While overseas, she deployed twice in support of Operation Inherent Resolve and Operation Resolute Support.

In 2020, she joined the Washington Air National Guard to continue her service as a weapons director at WADS while providing more stability to her growing family.

In her role as a weapons director, Rankin is responsible for initiating and overseeing the employment of Air Force fighters in support of Operation Noble Eagle (ONE) where she utilizes national radar and radio networks to ensure flight safety and the execution of air sovereignty over the western half of the United States. Operation Noble Eagle is the name given to all North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) aerospace warning, control, and defense missions in North America which deters, detects, and defeats potential threats to U.S. and Canadian airspace 24/7/365.

"Master Sgt. Rankin's selection as ANG NCO of the Year further affirms her exceptional leadership and professionalism," explained Lt. Col. Peter Hickman, 225th Air Defense Squadron commander. "In addition to being an outstanding battle management operator, she relentlessly invests in the entire team, pushing all of us to continuously improve and grow as leaders and professionals. We take great pride in her accomplishments and in the dedication of our entire team to cultivating and mentoring future leaders of her caliber."

Rankin stood out above her peers due to her involvement in Exercise Noble Skywave, backfilling the 169th Air Defense Squadron, providing air defense liaison duties protecting the U.S. President, and becoming a Victim Advocate.

As the sole air defense liaison between the Secret Service and 15 government agencies, she relayed imperative security information that helped guarantee the protection of the U.S. President and 3,500 foreign delegates during the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference in San Francisco.
She volunteered to backfill at the 169th ADS in Hawaii for other unit controllers to physically participate in Exercise Cope North in Guam. During her temporary duty assignment, she skillfully controlled over 30 fighter sorties that enabled training of five students managing agile combat employment activities in the Indo-Pacific region.

She educated 30 WADS operators on electromagnetic spectrum utilization to be ready to compete during the multi-national Noble Skywave high frequency radio competition. The exercise challenges competitors with voice and data contacts between domestic and international teams via HF sky-wave propagation. The WADS team established contact with 20 countries and finished in first place out of all NORAD sectors and in the top 12% overall out of 374 units competing.

According to Rankin, the capabilities of HF are so important and relevant because "it delivers global reach without the use of repeaters or satellites. If the satellites fail, cell towers go down, and the internet goes out, HF will still work. These abilities provide WADS with more flexibility during real-world contingency events."

In addition to Rankin's day-to-day air defense duties, she carved out time to complete the rigorous screening process and the 40-hour Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program to become a Victim Advocate. She has also completed a 10-week training course to certify as a suicide and crisis counselor for the Trevor Project, a national suicide hotline for troubled youth where she has already volunteered 66 hours mentoring 11 members experiencing suicidal ideation, deescalating situations, and preventing potential tragic suicide and homicidal ideations.

Her commitment to victim advocacy is due to her experiences on active duty. "I had troops who were victims of sexual assault both in and out of the military. I remember wishing I knew how to help them as they navigated the reporting and medical treatment processes," she explained.

For Rankin, winning this award is not about her, it is a testament that "receiving genuine feedback, any airman is capable of making the changes needed to be an Outstanding Airman of the Year winner." She realizes now that she is capable of achieving much more than the self-imposed mental glass ceiling she placed on herself. She has set her goals much higher and wants to compete for a commissioning opportunity to become an air battle manager and continue to serve at WADS.