TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Chaplain Lt. Col. Alice Hernandez, the wing chaplain of the 507th Air Refueling Wing, has been named the 2024 recipient of the Air Force Reserve Chaplain Corps Annual Award for Individual Excellence in the Traditional Reservist/Individual Mobilization Augmentee category.
The award recognizes outstanding contributions to spiritual readiness, mission support and community impact across the Air Force Reserve Chaplain Corps.
“In reviewing her package and the notes from the board members, [Chaplain Hernandez] stood out from others,” said Chaplain Col. James F. Danford, command chaplain at Headquarters, Air Force Reserve Command. “She was totally involved in all aspects of the wing but also found time to continue her education and provide outreach initiatives to the homeless in her community.”
Hernandez played a critical role in protecting the First Amendment rights of Reserve Airmen, successfully processing 30 religious accommodation requests for Traditional Reservists, directly supporting the execution of 573 sorties and over 2,327 flight hours. She also led chapel readiness support during a pre- and post-deployment exercise for 250 personnel, contributing to the wing’s “effective” rating on the 2024 Unit Effectiveness Inspection.
“This is a great wing.” Hernandez said. “The Airmen here are consistent, mission-focused, and have good attitudes. I tell my church folks, ‘Y’all are easy to be with,’ and the same is true for the 507th. They’re easy to be with.”
Hernandez’s work extended beyond the 507th ARW. In 2023, she established the first fully accredited Clinical Pastoral Education Center within the Air Force Reserve Command, creating a training program consisting of 100 classroom hours and 300 clinical hours that equips classes of 10 IMA and TR chaplains with tools for spiritual assessment and intervention.
“I’ve been a certified educator with the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education for 10 years, with 15 years of hospital ministry experience,” Hernandez said. “The CPE Center offers a fully accredited program for chaplains to learn how to make a spiritual assessment, how to be empathetic, and how to go out and actually apply what they learn in any setting.”
Hernandez also demonstrated her commitment to self-improvement by advancing to candidate status in her doctoral dissertation research on empathy in pastoral care and counseling within military settings. Her fieldwork has engaged more than 300 hours of cross-component interviews across Total Force.
“Empathy is a spiritual encounter,” Hernandez said. “To capture what it’s like in the military setting, I think, is really important and profound.”
Hernandez, a former CPE manager at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, said the award affirms the risk she took when leaving full-time hospital work to focus on her Reserve and chaplain development missions.
“Personally, it means that the hard work, the separation from family and the risk taking was worth it,” she said. “Professionally, it means that the education program that I began has value.”
Hernandez is described by Danford as a “servant leader.”
“She has no trouble taking charge and making decisions, but she also seeks to serve others,” Danford said. “She is not arrogant or boastful about her work and service and seeks to elevate those around her. She helps anyone who needs assistance, no matter the rank—and has a special skill set to help people pull themselves up and give them skills to be better.”
Hernandez credits the 507th ARW command team with providing the trust and support needed to succeed.
“The [commanders support staff] has been amazing. Col. Gormley has been amazing,” Hernandez said. “They always supported me when I was on orders for Air Force Reserve Command Chaplain Corps and trusted that the work I was doing was also supporting their mission.”
As she prepares to transition into an Individual Mobilization Augmentee role, Hernandez’s focus will expand to training both reservist and active duty chaplains.
“I’m transitioning out of the 507th and into an IMA position so I can focus on training the next generation of chaplains,” Hernandez said. “I’ve been training about 10 reservist chaplains a year, and now I’ll expand that to include up to 42 active duty chaplains. We may not be able to fix everything, but if we can listen, show care, and share the burden, even for 10 or 20 minutes, that can help get our Airmen back in the fight.”
To learn more about what chaplains do, or to speak to a chaplain, Airmen of the 507th ARW can email 507arw.hc.chaplainworkflow@us.af.mil.