Sec. Walter Gaskin of the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs presents Fred Dawkins, pneudraulics system mechanic, with a challenge coin during a brief tour of Fleet Readiness Center East May 20. Dawkins, an Air Force veteran, has given more than 65 years of federal service. He began work at FRCE in 1995 after relocating from Naval Air Station Alameda, California, where he worked first as a contractor and then as a civilian after retiring from the U.S. Air Force following 26 years of active-duty service.