In the Spotlight

Name: Airman 1st Class Ethan Dudderar

Command: 7th Reconnaissance Squadron

Department: Avionics Maintenance

By MC2 Josh Cote, NAS Sigonella Public Affairs

Though our installation name Naval Air Station (NAS) Sigonella suggests otherwise, our community is comprised of more than just the U.S. Navy. For this issue of In the Spotlight, we reached out to one of our U.S. Air Force tenant commands, the 7th Reconnaissance Squadron (RS), who wanted us to highlight one of their bright up and coming new Airmen: Airman 1st Class Ethan Dudderar from Baltimore, Maryland.

While Dudderar is assigned to 7th RS, he works in the maintenance department. He falls under the avionics section of maintenance who are responsible for the upkeep on all the RQ-4 Global Hawks at the command. When it comes to maintenance on the Global Hawk, avionics technicians like Dudderar deal with the integrated systems inside the complicated aircraft.

Although he has not been here for very long, he has already shown he is a hard worker and stands out to his leadership.

“A1C Dudderar represents the future of RQ-4 Global Hawk mission generation here at NAS Sigonella,” said Senior Master Sgt. Jason Jones, superintendent, 7th RS. “He demonstrates unparalleled professionalism and motivation in executing his charge to master the skills needed to maintain our RQ-4s, which provide critical intelligence to the European command. “

Although Dudderar does not hold any official collateral duties yet, he has already found ways to help out the command.

“I try to get involved with whatever I can,” said Dudderar. “At the moment, our main focus is getting our certifications so we can do solo work on the jet. Other than that I do anything I can. I volunteered for the Thanksgiving that we have here, and basically anything else I can get my hands on.”

The military is not always the first career choice for everyone. Some people like to try out other careers before determining the military is something they really want, and then join later on in life, like myself.

“By the time I decided I really wanted to give the military a shot, I was 26, and I am 27 now,” said Dudderar. “I joined the Air Force for a couple of different reasons. First I wanted to finish art school and that cost a lot of money, which is why I got into my first career—to save money for school. I enjoyed my old career, but it wasn’t really fulfilling, and the military was something I always wanted to do. I kind of had to take a look at myself and ask what I was doing exactly.”

Dudderar has been in the Air Force for about a year now, with 7th RS as his first command. Being stationed in Europe has its perks when it comes to traveling. Although Dudderar has only been to a couple of places in Sicily, he plans to see more when travel restrictions are lifted.

Overall, Dudderar has had a positive experience at his first duty station.

“I came in with and open mind and decided to tackle it however it came at me,” said Dudderar. “Here is just really unique. We are such a small squadron and we operate on minimal manning. But everyone here, from Superintendent all the way down to my supervisor and along with the Airman I am working with, everyone is just really great. A lot of the new guys came from technical school with me. The fact that we are all here working together and everyone is just super motivated, it makes it really easy to do my job.”