Jan Verhage, father of five, says his son Mike was born "focused."
So was Mike's twin brother, Marc.
"Those two boys, the best thing we did was kind of stay out of the way and feed them," Verhage said Thursday.
Georgia Air National Guard Maj. Mike Verhage, stationed in Warner Robins, Ga., recently received the 116th Air Control Wing's Air National Guard 2005 Lance P. Sijan Air Force Leadership Award in the senior officer category.
The award is named for the first Air Force Academy graduate to receive the Medal of Honor. Sijan, a Minnesota native, received it posthumously after being shot down over Vietnam in 1967. He was severely injured but evaded capture for 45 days. He died in a prisoner of war camp.
Verhage, 37, a husband and father, is son of Jan and Pat Verhage of Greenwood.
Mike and Marc graduated from Hernando High School - Mike was salutatorian and Marc, valedictorian. Both ended up in careers associated with flying. Marc is in the aerospace industry in Huntsville, Ala.
Mike told the 116th's official newsletter, Eye in the Sky, he can't put his finger on any one thing he did to earn the award.
"It obviously couldn't have happened without the rest of the people in my squadron," he said. "One measure of a good leader is the quality of the people under them. That was evident with our squadron."
The newsletter reported that his superiors call him "a warrior leader" for his efforts as a combat crew director during three Operation Iraqi Freedom deployments, where he briefed and flew more than 40 combat missions, logging more than 400 hours.
Jan Verhage said his son was the commander on a Joint STAR - a modified Boeing 707 with sophisticated radar of a reported range of more than 150 miles. It is estimated the aircraft's radar can cover about 386,100 square miles in one eight-hour combat mission.
Eye in the Sky reported that Major Verhage led the operations team during Operation Phantom Fury, the siege of Fallujah, in November 2004. He directed strikes on enemy snipers and provided air cover for convoys under attack.
Lt. Col. Joseph Schmidt told the magazine that Verhage's leadership was critical during three evacuation missions in which five U.S. soldiers were rescued.
Verhage has been assistant director of operations for Army, Air Force and Air National Guard troops in the 128th Airborne Command and Control Squadron and the employment of more than $350 million Joint STARS aircraft.
Major Verhage was a weapons system officer on active duty for eight years before switching to the Air National Guard.
