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Dear Members and Friends,
“Your leadership counts, your leadership is what would beat everybody. And the diversity of this country that you lead and create that trust to do that. So, we're very honored to recognize and award them. We dream big, we are big. We live our dream to give our dreams. There's only four things, Complete belief. Complete, you doubt you're out. Courage. Courage is probably the hardest thing to do. True grit. Winners associate with Winners to win, like we did tonight, thank you.”
– MDAA Founder and Chairman Mr. Riki Ellison, June 13th, 2025, Joint Base Andrews, MD.
At Joint Base Andrews, MD, last Friday night on June 13th, 2025, we honored and recognized 21 awardees of the National Guard in their noble and sacred mission of defending the National Capital Region from air threats for this past year. MDAA hosted our 82nd Missile Defender of the Year (MDOY) and marked a milestone of over 1,000 MDOY award recipients.
Our tradition of recognizing our best in this critical mission runs deep, embedded in a history of integrity and honor in the Missile Defense mission. The Missile Defender of the Year Award ceremony began in January 2011 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the first operational Patriot missile intercept on January 18, 1991. Since then, MDAA has honored and awarded 1,016 Awardees from 22 different nations at 82 total Defender of the Year Award ceremonies. This Missile Defender of the Year ceremony was particularly powerful as there are now over a thousand MDOY awardees, cementing the legacy of all the warfighters who have been recognized. Our four National Capitol Region Missile Defender of the Year events have honored 66 awardees, beginning with the inaugural event on October 18th, 2019. This prestigious recognition has celebrated awardees from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, South Korea, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, and the United States. Events have been hosted by eight countries: Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Qatar, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.
We are honored to present the 2025 National Capitol Region Missile Defenders of the Year:
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