Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced on Tuesday that Dover Air Force Base in Delaware had taken top honors in the Commander-In-Chief's Installation Excellence Award, which recognizes the outstanding and innovative efforts of the people who operate and maintain U.S. military installations. Dover's commanders will get $1 million to go toward quality of life improvements on the base.

Hill Air Base Wing commander Linda Medler, who will help oversee the spending of a $500,000 consolation prize for the northern Utah base, struck a positive note in announcing the news.

"Team Hill is honored to be one of the top two out of 112 Air Force Installations," she said in a statement released by the base on Tuesday afternoon. "While a bit disappointed that we did not finish first, it's an honor to make it this far in the competition. All of Team Hill came together to show the selection board the complexity of missions, diversity of organizations with a single focus to fly, fight, and win together."

But in recent weeks, Hill's positive aspects have been overshadowed by a series of embarrassments. Last month, Defense Department officials reported that a Hill depot managed by Air Force contractors lost track of several ballistic missile fuses for several years before the parts turned up in Taiwan. A few weeks later, Hill officials acknowledged that they had mistakenly fed a small amount of depleted uranium at a Layton incinerator after assuring the plant's managers that the classified items they wanted to dispose of were safe to burn. And this week it was revealed that a Hill F-16 pilot had fired live ammunition at two soldiers, who managed to escape with minor injuries during an exercise at the Utah Test and Training Range.

It's unclear whether any of those mishaps - all of which occurred under separate commands at Hill - played into the review board's decision.

In any case, Medler said, "I believe the team came away from Hill having a great appreciation for the 24,000 men and women, from four Air Force Major Commands and 46 Associate Units, who really make the slogan 'Team Hill' a reality." - Matthew D. LaPlante