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22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit Marine wins intelligence award

23 Sep 2010 | Staff Sgt. Wayne Campbell 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit

A Marine with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit received top honors for his accomplishments as an intelligence officer at an awards ceremony here, Sept. 23, 2010.

Major Donovan J. Salerno, 22nd MEU intelligence officer, received the Lt. Col. Michael D. Kuszewski Marine Corps Intelligence Association Intelligence Officer of the Year Award during a ceremony organized by the association.

The association presented the award to Salerno for his expert leverage of open-source intelligence, which provided the command with timely and accurate information, which ultimately saved the lives of isolated Haitians in need according to the award warrant.  Salerno’s efforts were so effective; he influenced the national intelligence community to further emphasize the use of open-source intelligence. 

The award is named after LtCol Mike Kuszewski, who was a charter member of the MCIA Inc. and lost his life in 1996 during in a training mishap at Camp LeJeune during Operation Purple Star when the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter he was riding was struck by an AH-1 Cobra helicopter.

“Lieutenant Colonel Kuszewski was a very dedicated, determined and professional Marine who was highly sought after in the intelligence community,” said MCIA Vice President Woody Biggs.  “Much like the namesake of this award, Major Salerno is indeed a top performer.”

Salerno’s accomplishments significantly influenced the way intelligence operations will be conducted by the Marine Corps in the future, according to the citation.

“While I was privileged to receive this award, it is a direct reflection of the innovation, hard work, and attention to detail demonstrated by the intelligence Marines I worked with during Operation Unified Response,” said Salerno. “I could not feel more proud of what we accomplished, and I was deeply honored to be selected for this prestigious award. I am also very grateful to MCIA Inc., for their exhaustive efforts to recognize top intelligence performance in the operating forces.”

Other award winners included Dena Orlando, Civilian Marine Intelligence Professional of the Year; Maj. Brian Broderick, Instructor of the Year; Sgt. Joshua W. Roadcap, Non-commissioned Officer of the Year; Gunnery Sgt. Stephen Glen-Walker, Marine intelligence Staff Non-commissioned Officer of the Year; and Capt. Matthew T. Kralovec, MCIA Literary award.

The Marine Corps Intelligence Association, Inc. is a non-profit professional organization of regular, reserve, retired and former Intelligence Marines. MCIA, Inc. promotes professionalism among the Marine Corps Intelligence Community through collective action by its membership and through its affiliation with other associations, according to their Web site http://mcia-inc.org.

The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit is considered a scalable, multipurpose force and can consist of more than 2,200 Marines and sailors. Commanded by Col. Eric J. Steidl, it will consist of a ground combat element, an aviation combat element, a logistics combat element and its command element.