139th Airmen of the Year announced

  • Published
  • By Maj. Brian Bowman
  • 139AW
Col. Mike McEnulty surveyed a room full of excellent airmen, all sharply dressed in their blues awaiting the results of the 139th Airlift Wing's Airmen of the Year competition during the November UTA at Rosecrans.

McEnulty, the 139th's new commander, couldn't hide his enthusiasm.
"I am so proud to be in the room with best that we have," he said, adding, "(and) with the best in the Guard."

Chief Master Sgt. Scott Duncan, who again chaired the board of Chiefs who made the selections, has more experience with the competition than McEnulty, but continues to be similarly wowed.

"In the Senior NCO category alone it took three Chiefs 45 minutes to make a decision (on a winner)," Duncan said. "That's how close it is with these candidates.
"The packages were filled with everything from masters degrees, long deployments, and lots of community involvement. This year's nominees were among the best we've seen."
Winners were selected in five categories: Airman, NCO, Senior NCO, First Sergeant and Officer. The Airman, NCO and Senior NCO winners competed at the statewide competition Dec. 5 in Jefferson City. Winners at the state level are Senior Airman Joshua Brown and First Sergeant Gary Chambers.

Brown and Chambers' packages will be forwarded to the National Guard Bureau to compete against other state winners.

Here are the wing-level winners, with a brief bio of accomplishments:

Airman - Senior Airman Joshua Brown, 139 Logistics Readiness Squadron - A Fuels Journeyman, Brown completed his second deployment to Kyrgyzstan this past year and received the Commander's Coin there for his outstanding performance. Brown also volunteers for a variety of causes, including as a hockey referee.

NCO - Staff Sgt. Charles Compton, 139th Command Post - Played a major role in the startup and security of classified information in new areas of the Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Center, in addition to his duties at the command post. Compton has logged more than 2,000 hours of local community service.

Senior NCO - Master Sgt. Susan McGarry, 139th Operations Support Flight - As Unit Deployment Manager, led three wing organizations through two major deployments while maintaining core responsibilities. Also trained one active duty officer for the Airfield Operations Officer Training program, and received an Excellent rating during the annual Air Mobility Command Communications Security inspection. McGarry has also volunteered in the community and on base for various charities and projects.

First Sergeant - Master Sgt. Gary Chambers, 139th Maintenance Squadron - In addition to all of his normal first sergeant duties, Chambers in 2009 served as first sergeant for the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron in Afghanistan. Chambers is active in the community and a member of numerous organizations.

Officer - Capt. Marcus Jackson, 139th Communications Flight - Before being named the Comm. Flight commander earlier this year, Jackson helped the 139th Finance Office through several multi-million dollar budget processes.