Indian Head, Md. –
Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division (NSWC IHD) honored Master Sgt. Gregorio Vargas of the Air Force Reserve with the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for revitalizing the command’s Anti-Terrorism (AT) program in less than one year and establishing it as a model for other organizations across the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) enterprise.
As the command’s AT officer from January to December 2025 Vargas created NSWC IHD’s first-ever required critical assessments and established program compliance where none previously existed. The critical assessments Vargas produced, including threat, criticality, vulnerability and risk assessments, played a crucial role in the AT program achieving a 95% compliance rate during the NAVSEA Inspector General inspection in 2025.
Vargas spent nearly 900 hours conducting random inspections of over 100 restricted buildings at NSWC IHD, becoming a trusted leader in the command’s security community. He also founded and chaired the AT Working Group to bring all anti-terrorism stakeholders across the command together, which institutionalized best practices and enabled deficiencies to be corrected proactively.
“His oversight of the program directly enhanced daily mission readiness and reduced vulnerabilities at a restricted site of strategic importance,” NSWC IHD Security Division Director Bill Gregor said. “Master Sgt. Vargas’ outstanding professionalism, program expertise and leadership will have a lasting impact on the security posture of the command for the foreseeable future.”
The Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal is awarded to members of the Navy and Marine Corps for meritorious service or achievement.
NSWC IHD — a field activity of the Naval Sea Systems Command and part of the Navy’s Science and Engineering Establishment — is the leader in ordnance, energetics, and EOD solutions. The Division focuses on energetics research, development, testing, evaluation, in-service support, manufacturing and disposal; and provides warfighters solutions to detect, locate, access, identify, render safe, recover, exploit and dispose of explosive ordnance threats.