OO-ALC Engineering and Technical Management awards feature some of Hill's best, brightest

  • Published
  • By Lee Anne Hensley
  • Hilltop Times staff
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  The sixth annual Ogden Air Logistics Center Engineering and Technical Management Awards ceremony was held at Club Hill on Feb. 18 to honor Team Hill's most innovative minds. The awards ceremony was held in conjunction with other activities that celebrated 2009 Engineers Week, a nationally recognized week dedicated to raising public awareness of engineers' positive contributions to quality of life, according to the National Engineers Week Web site. 

The ceremony's guest speaker was Col. David Glade II, vice commander of Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Glade is involved in both the design and test phases of the Air Force laboratory's developments, as he is also a command pilot and experimental test pilot with more 2,700 flight hours in more than 60 aircraft types. 

"You are probably wondering, 'What does a lab guy have to bring to this ceremony?'" Glade told the room full of engineers from the OO-ALC. The colonel answered with an analogy. "The system development and acquisition cycle is comparable to a snake. Research and development is just the first few inches of that snake. I realize this snake analogy flies in the face of an Air Force legend who said, 'I don't ever, ever, ever want to hear the term logistics tail again. If our aircraft, missiles, and weapons are the teeth of our military might, then logistics is the muscle, tendons and sinews that make the teeth bite down and hold on -- logistics is the jawbone! Hear that? The jawbone!'" 

The quote originated from Lt. Gen. (retired) Leo Marquez, who was deputy chief of staff for logistics and engineering at Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., several decades ago. Glade summarized that the snake analogy illustrates the commonalities of research and logistics and that his laboratory team always considers the full lifecycle of their developments. The colonel later noted that new ideas do not only come from the laboratory, and he called for input from the OO-ALC engineers as well. 

The ceremony's host, Mark Johnson, OO-ALC executive director, returned Glade's gratitude by thanking his laboratory team for their efforts. "We, as a group, are responsible for approximately 80 percent of the lifecycle of the systems, so what (the AFRL team) does is incredibly important for the long-haul," Johnson told the colonel. 

Johnson also echoed the sentiments of the retired Lt. Gen. Marquez's quote by stating the OO-ALC team is the "bedrock" of the Air Force, providing safe, suitable and effective systems each day. 

In recognition of the most outstanding OO-ALC engineers during the 2008 fiscal year, the following winners excelled in their respective categories, and the winners from the 748th Supply Chain Management Group are eligible to compete at the Global Logistics Support Center award level: 

Wing Peer Award, Director's Choice: Mike Shaw, 508th Aircraft Sustainment Wing 

Junior Military Engineer: Capt. Matthew Van Gilder, 508th ASW 

Mid-Career Military Engineer: Capt. Tommy Rockwood, 508th ASW 

Senior Military Engineer: Col. Janet Augustine, OO-ALC 

Junior Civilian Engineer: Bret Nakagawa, 84th Combat Sustainment Wing 

Mid-Career Civilian Engineer: Martin Peters, 508th ASW 

Senior Civilian Engineer: Wade Hasler, 508th ASW 

Chief Engineer: Michael Hackett Jr., 508th ASW 

Technical Management: Dave Jolley, 309th Maintenance Wing 

Engineering Technician: Lorenzo Razo, 309th MXW 

Career Achievement: Lynn Silver, 84th CSW 

Reservist/Individual Mobilization Augmentee: Maj. Doug Ball, 508th ASW 

Support: Lori Homer, 309th MXW 

General James Ferguson Engineering Award: Britton Hayden, 84th CSW 

General Lester L. Lyles Award: Sal Alestra, 508th ASW 

Capt. Roland R. Obenland Engineering Award: 1st Lt. Cullen Brewster, 508th ASW 

Technical Management Team Award: A-10 Technical Services Branch, 508th ASW 

General Bernard P. Randolph Engineering Team Award: F-16 Modernization Program Team, 508th ASW 

Research Management: Craig Shaw, OO-ALC 

Civilian Test and Evaluation Team Award: Robert Lamb, OO-ALC 

Team Test and Evaluation Team Award: Center Test Authority Team, OO-ALC 

The following Airmen received the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center Award in their respective categories:

2nd Lt. Rajan Pal, Junior Military Engineer; 
Capt. Gregory Cameron, Mid-Career Military Engineer; 
Rebecca Senkel, Junior Civilian Engineer; 
Salvador Herrera, Mid-Career Civilian Engineer; 
Michael Shafer, Technical Management; System Engineering Level Evaluation and Correction Team, Technical Management Team; 
Myrne Riley, PhD, Career Achievement; 
Lt. Col. Kenneth Roberts, Reservist/Individual Mobilization Augmentee; 
Lauri Downey, Support; 
Jerrold Brigance, General James Ferguson Engineering Award