Sonny Fann, Naval Air Systems Command Wounded Warrior Program Senior Outreach Coordinator and Placement Advocate, receives the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award from NAVAIR commander, Vice Adm. Paul Grosklags, during a ceremony March 13. Fann received the award for his service to veterans and efforts in helping more than 2,000 Veterans and Wounded Warriors find employment at NAVAIR. (U.S. Navy photo)
In recognition of his advocacy and recruiting efforts, NAVAIR’s Wounded Warrior Program Senior Outreach Coordinator and Placement Advocate, Sonny Fann received the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award (NSCSA) during a ceremony here March 13.
Fann received the award for his service to veterans and efforts in helping more than 2,000 Veterans and Wounded Warriors find employment at NAVAIR. The NSCSA is the second highest honorary award under the Department of the Navy Civilian Awards program, behind only the Navy Distinguished Civilian Service award.
“When we do recruiting and we start talking about folks, there’s one name that comes up when we talk about our Wounded Warriors,” said Todd Balazs, NAVAIR Deputy Assistant Commander for Logistics and Industrial Operations (AIR 6.0), as he opened the award ceremony.
Fann is considered to be an expert when it comes to integrating Wounded Warriors into the NAVAIR workforce, Balazs said.
“It wasn’t just about recruiting,” Balazs said. “These (Wounded Warriors) become part of our workforce and bring leadership skills. They also sometimes need someone to talk to and help them understand what is going on here at the workplace. They want someone to help them integrate from where they came to where they are today.”
NAVAIR Commander Vice Adm. Paul Grosklags recognized Fann as the founder and chief ambassador of NAVAIR’s Wounded Warrior program as he presented the award.
“I remember when I was the vice commander here and we got this Wounded Warrior program rolling. You, Sonny, have been the glue and the constant contact that holds this all together,” Grosklags said. “Yes, it’s about the recruiting. But just as important as we bring folks onboard, we find they need some support infrastructure. The Wounded Warriors know they can pick up the phone and have somebody to talk to or have a question answered, and Sonny you’re that guy for all the right reasons.”
Fann joined the Wounded Warrior Program Office in 2010, initially on a one-year rotation from Air 6.0; he remains with the program today.
“I’m a two-tour Vietnam veteran and the world is different from when I came home,” Fann said. “I’m very fortunate to have had the opportunity to help right for today’s combat veterans, what was wrong for returning Vietnam veterans many years ago. I can honestly say that being a small part of veteran and wounded warrior transition is the most personally rewarding and humbling experience of my 43 years of military and civilian service.”
Part of the success of the Wounded Warrior program is the outreach to Veterans and Wounded Warriors that goes beyond collecting resumes.
“What we do is different from traditional college recruiting, and I don’t mean that in a negative way,” he said. “Each wounded warrior case is different, but at the end of the day, what we do is save lives.
“When we go into military treatment facilities, Veterans’ hospitals and hiring events, we meet some of the more wounded, ill and injured warriors. They don’t often have much hope and they don’t see the value in themselves anymore,” Fann said. “We provide that hope and opportunity and they become an important part in achieving the NAVAIR mission.
“Anyone who has served in the military and put themselves in harm’s way, especially the wounded, ill and injured, not only deserve our respect and support, but have earned to right to have a chance in a productive career and successful family life after their transition from the military,” Fann said. “The current veteran suicide rate is over 22 per day and climbing, which is not only unacceptable, but in many ways preventable. Every time we place some body (in a job), that’s one less statistic we have to worry about.”
Tracy Hurtt, a logistics management specialist at the NAVAIR Aviation Readiness and Resource Analysis department (AIR 6.8), was nearly one of those statistics before she met Fann at a Wounded Warrior hiring event at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.
“Sonny saved my life,” Hurtt said. “I was in a dark place and he gave me hope. I felt I was a liability to the Army and to everyone around me.
“His presence allowed me to open up,” she said. “He saved my life.”
As a result of Fann’s efforts, Hurtt was accepted to the Naval Acquisition Development Program in 2014 and is working on the Decision Knowledge Programming for Logistics Analysis and Technical Evaluation (DECKPLATE) program.
Prior to Fann’s involvement with the Wounded Warrior program, NAVAIR’s hiring rate was at five percent. Now it stands at more than 16 percent. Retention of Wounded Warriors in NAVAIR is nearly 90 percent, compared to the overall NAVAIR rate of 87 percent.
Fann is quick to share credit for the success of the program.
“Without the continued support of NAVAIR leadership, AIR 7.3 (Total Force Strategy and Management Division), site leads, open-minded supervisors and managers, and many others, none of the achievements in placing veterans and wounded warriors in NAVAIR careers would be possible,” Fann said. “None of this makes any difference if hiring managers don’t have the right attitude toward evaluating the veteran and Wounded Warrior candidates we submit for placement consideration. When they get their resumes, we ask that they look beyond the resume.
“Consider the transferrable skill sets, leadership ability, mission orientation and life experiences that you can’t duplicate anywhere else. That’s what brings to the forefront the success of the NAVAIR Veteran and Wounded Warrior program,” Fann said.
Sonny Fann, Naval Air Systems Command Wounded Warrior Program Senior Outreach Coordinator and Placement Advocate, receives the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award from NAVAIR commander, Vice Adm. Paul Grosklags, during a ceremony March 13. Fann received the award for his service to veterans and efforts in helping more than 2,000 Veterans and Wounded Warriors find employment at NAVAIR. (U.S. Navy photo)
