Pax River wins NDW Region Installation Excellence Award, Moves to Navy-Wide Competition

Commandant, Naval District Washington, Rear Adm. Nancy Lacore has named NAS Patuxent River the NDW Regional winner of the Installation Excellence Award — Large Shore category — which recognizes quality in installation management, program excellence and community outreach.
“I truly appreciate all that you, and your teams, have done over the past year,” wrote Lacore in an email message announcing the win. “Congrats to the selectees and thank you again to all for what you do each day.”
All of the NDW installations were judged on air and port operations; fire and emergency management; security; safety and health; conservation efforts; planned or completed energy projects; facility improvement; property stewardship; fleet and family readiness; communications and public relations.
The following are just some of the activities and initiatives that earned Pax River its award:
- Pax Military Working Dog (MWD) Kennel opened in May 2022, and houses four canines supporting two President of the United States missions, VQ-4 MWD requirements, 147 Random Antiterrorism Measures, and 741 hours of Explosive and Narcotics detection across six fence-lines.
- Pax Operations earned an 82% overall grade for the Command Assessment for Readiness and Training (CART) including maximum points for the Incident Management Team and a successful "pilot" program assessment of Fire and Emergency Services.
- Pax served as a pilot program for CNIC’s Healthy Food Initiative in March, informing the future of food services across CNIC.
- Pax supported Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) operations in May and June 2022. The LCACs landed and launched from our beach to deliver high-value equipment for crucial Special Operations Group testing.
- Pax Air Ops team earned a 94% on the triennial CNIC Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization (NATOPS) Airfield Evaluation, exceeding the Fleet average of 85%. Airfield Services (AFS) earned a grade of OUTSTANDING during their concurrent Carrier Airfield Service Unit (CAFSU) inspection, and our Search and Rescue (SAR) Dogs executed eight real-world SAR operations and rescued six personnel.
- Pax supported Calvert Exercise (CALVEX) 2022, a FEMA evaluated exercise at the St. Mary’s County EOC, strengthening bonds with state and local partners.
- Fire and Emergency Services from NAS Pax River responded to 1,021 real-world events, most notably, a quickly growing structural fire at building 440. Pax Fire's rapid response saved CNIC approximately $1M.
- Pax Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) department programs provided responsible liberty solutions for over 3,000 Sailors with more than 11,000 program sign-ups. Through innovative third-party commercial sponsorship, the Liberty program provided free golf, bowling, and movies to E-4 and below Sailors. Our CYP served over 575 children, youth, and teens in the Navy’s largest Child Development Center.
- Pax received a $2.7M Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Challenge award to restore eroding shoreline that contains a nesting area for diamondback terrapins. The REPI program acquired two conservation easements, totaling 300 acres, in the Harriet Tubman Rural Legacy Area on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. These easements are located beneath Navy airspace and now support wildlife, agricultural productivity, climate resilience, and military readiness.
- Pax Environmental completed 427 FY22 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews.
“This award is no small feat, and representative of the hard work from each of our Sailors and civilian teammates,” said Capt. Derrick Kingsley, NAS Patuxent River Commanding Officer. “All of our ‘Pax Pros’ should be proud of this achievement. Everyone did their job to make this happen.”
As a result of the win, Pax River will now advance to the CNIC-level of competition as the NDW nominee, facing other regions around the world for the Navywide award. Winners of the CNIC-level Installation Excellence Award will go on to compete with installations from other branches of the military services for the DoD-wide Commander in Chief Awards.