LIHUE — When the senior-ranking official in your career field calls from the Pentagon, one can’t be blamed for first thinking, “Oh no, what did I do?” But despite Mass Communications Specialist 2nd Class Mathew Diendorf’s initial trepidation, the message
LIHUE — When the senior-ranking official in your career field calls from the Pentagon, one can’t be blamed for first thinking, “Oh no, what did I do?”
But despite Mass Communications Specialist 2nd Class Mathew Diendorf’s initial trepidation, the message from one-star admiral select Dawn Cutler was congratulatory.
The acting Chief of Navy Information, who leads the Navy’s public affairs community of more than 2,500 communication professionals, was calling to let the Pacific Missile Range Facility sailor know he had been selected as the service’s Enlisted Public Affairs Officer of the Year.
Diendorf earned the Thompson-Ravitz Award for Excellence in Public Affairs in the individual category for his achievements in 2013, a five-month portion of which he filled the role as the installation’s PAO while the civilian position was vacant.
“It was a shock,” Diendorf said of the call, having forgotten all about the submission forwarded by his supervisor in February. “I do remember telling (PMRF PAO) Stefan (Alford) not to even bother when he was writing the nomination package because it seemed like a waste of time.”
The reason for his skepticism wasn’t based on duty performance, but because previous winners have all been several enlisted ranks higher than Diendorf.
“I knew he deserved it and had a great chance,” Alford said. “Despite the rank disparity, he had not only run the office by himself for the first part of the year, but he’d also been involved in some high-profile, high-visibility missions here with the likes of NASA and the Missile Defense Agency.”
In fact, the first sentence of Diendorf’s award nomination read: “Single-handedly ran the public affairs operations of the world’s largest, multi-instrumented training and test range to garner positive publicity for multi-million dollar Department of Defense programs in national and international media markets.”
While 11 unit-level awards are presented, only three individual selections are made for the categories of best public affairs junior officer, junior civilian and enlisted.
As the deputy PAO at Kauai’s Navy base, Diendorf is primarily responsible for the installation’s community outreach program — organizing tours of the base for various civic groups and local schools, setting up career day fairs and speakers to promote high-tech jobs available on the island, and coordinating the hands-on volunteer efforts of PMRF employees to assist local non-profits, such as Habitat for Humanity and the National Tropical Botanical Garden.
He also serves as the base’s official photographer and editor of the monthly newsletter, Within Range, as well as helping to update PMRF’s public website and social media applications.
“We are extremely proud of the talents and expertise of all of our PMRF ohana, military and civilian, and Mat’s award is another example of the hard-working, dedicated professionals that make up our team,” said Capt. Bruce W. Hay, PMRF’s commanding officer.
“I take a lot of pride in everything PMRF does in the community,” Diendorf said.
“Our Sailors and employees are doing everything from coaching football, baseball and soccer, to mentoring children in sea scouts and boys and girls clubs. It truly is an honor to receive this award and I’m just happy to be a part of it.”
