Chamber honors 4 armed forces members

Four members of the armed forces were honored on Thursday as “persons of the year” by the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The honorees, two representing active duty and two from the National Guard or Reserves, were named at the chamber’s 49th annual Persons of the Year Awards luncheon at the DoubleTree Hotel in Spokane.

Senior Airman Lukas Wardensky of the Washington Air National Guard was this year’s junior enlisted winner in the Reserve and Guard category. His commanding officer described Wardensky as “an intelligent and motivated individual who exemplifies the qualities of duty, service and integrity.” Wardensky, a former Montana Eagle Scout of the year, is a student in the Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program at Gonzaga University.

U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Gunnery Sgt. Richard Frier was named senior enlisted person of the year in the Reserve and Guard category. A highly decorated combat veteran, Frier volunteered to be activated last year and is currently serving as battery operations officer for training and education at the Spokane Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center. Frier also is involved in youth sports, Camp Fire Kids and drug prevention in Spokane Valley schools.

In the active duty category, the chamber named Senior Airman Jesse Jermyn, a resistance and escape instructor with the 22nd Training Squadron at Fairchild Air Force Base, as its junior winner. The 2004 resistance and escape specialist of the year, Jermyn was selected to support training operations in recent military campaigns in Iraq. During one deployment, he treated a fellow passenger aboard a C-130 who was hit by ground fire. He is also active in Spokane Area Boys and Girls Clubs, the Boy Scouts and local schools.

Tech. Sgt. Joel Fox, the noncommissioned officer-in-charge of weapons systems maintenance for the 2nd Support Squadron of the 92nd Air Refueling Wing at Fairchild, was selected as senior enlisted person of the year. Fox was named a distinguished graduate from Peterson Air Force Base Noncommissioned Officers Academy in Colorado and was the Big Brothers and Big Sisters Fairchild volunteer of the year for 2004. He recently earned a master’s degree in human resources from Webster University and has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, the Boys Scouts, Broadway Elementary School and Bowling for Kids Sake.