ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- The 139th Airlift Wing announced Capt. Angela Atha, a medical service corps officer assigned to the 139th Medical Group, as the wing’s Company Grade Officer of the Year on Dec. 22, 2020.
Atha was nominated for this award in part for her work and efforts both on and off the base during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was an instrumental part of the wing’s COVID-19 response team.
She utilized her medical background to help develop the wing’s operation risk assessment (ORM), to ensure the base remained mission-ready during the pandemic. In the ORM, she created base guidance on how members should act and reporting instructions if they came in contact with, or were diagnosed with, the virus. Her immediate actions during the early stages of the outbreak kept the base from shutting down due to the pandemic and ensuring the 139th stayed mission-ready.
Atha also realized there was a need for an online interactive platform that members could utilize to stay in contact with their chain of command and receive information they need to perform in a virtual environment during drill weekends.
She used guidance from DOD, NGB, State HQ and her experience with teleworking in her civilian career to help implement a video teleconferencing platform. This platform gave the commanders the ability to communicate to the wing and its units in a timely and effective manner.
She lives in a small community in Colorado where a lot of the community fell on hard times due to COVID-19. She spends a lot of time volunteering with the 4-H club where she helps raise money for gear and auctioning off beef, pork and other proteins.
Her husband Brandon is the general manager at the city’s only grocery store, so this year they personally donated gift cards to the store in order to help those affected by the pandemic be able to keep food on their tables.
“I was humbled and honored to be nominated, much less selected for this award,” said Atha. “Being able to help the 139th and my community navigate this pandemic is what I was trained to do, and I’m proud to serve and work with so many dedicated and giving people.”