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JB MDL mourns loss of Senior Airman Rocha

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Bryan Swink
  • Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  A memorial service was held in memory of Senior Airman Codi Rocha at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Dix Chapel, Feb. 4.

Rocha's family and more than 200 fellow Airmen and JB MDL community members paid tribute to Rocha who died in a motor vehicle accident on the morning of Feb. 1 on Monmouth Highway while traveling to JB MDL for duty.

He was assigned to the 87th Logistics Readiness Squadron and worked as a special purpose vehicle mechanic.

"In this role, he performed, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance on our most important vehicles used for loading and unloading aircraft," said Col. Gina Grosso, JB MDL and 87th Air Base Wing commander. "These vehicles are worth in excess of $47 million. Codi was one of those behind-the-scenes airmen who had a huge impact on the success of our many air operations."

Many of Rocha's coworkers had a hard time publicly expressing their feelings towards him, so Chief Master Sgt. Darren Silsbee, 87th LRS Vehicle Management Flight chief , took the lead at the service to express the unit thoughts.

"Codi was very much loved by all of us," said Silsbee. "As a senior airman, Codi was a very responsible and mature Airman for his age. He loved his wife and his family deeply."

The men and women of the vehicle management flight honored Rocha in a wrench ceremony. Each person placed a hand tool into his tool box to signify mission completion.

"This harden steel hand tool represents the resolve of the Airmen in Codi's flight," said Silsbee. "It is a representation of our Air Force core value; excellence in all we do. Accountability of tools is paramount in our mission and the flight will now return Codi's tools back to his box for the last time."

At the service, he was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Medal for his achievement as mobile command and control technician for the 621st Contingency Response Team at Shaheed Mwaffaq, Kingdom of Jordan. He was the sole vehicle mechanic on-site supporting Exercise Falcon Air Meet 2010. He led a Jordanian maintenance team and taught them how to troubleshoot and repair the vital piece of cargo handling equipment which improved Jordan's organic maintenance capability, strengthened international bonds and left a positive lasting impression on a key ally of the United States.

He also received the Air Force Commendation Medal. From April 2008 to February 2011, Rocha was vital to performing scheduled and unscheduled maintenance on 165 material handling equipment assets valued at more than $45 million. His knowledge and flawless execution of 24 task evaluations and management of 28 technical orders was integral to the 'Excellent' rating earned by the squadron during the 2009 Air Mobility Logistics Standardization and Evaluation Program inspection.