Tinker civilian wins Air Force award Published May 3, 2013 By Brandice J. O'Brien Tinker Public Affairs TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Mike Mowles wasn't the first, second or third person to learn the big news. In fact, he may have been one of the last to learn he won an Air Force-level award. The 2012 Air Force Lt. Gen. Leo Marquez award for the Civilian Manager-category recipient didn't nominate himself, nor was he aware when his nomination made it through both the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex and Air Force Materiel Command. In fact, Mr. Mowles learned of the Air Force-level win in mid-February at the OC-ALC awards ceremony. But, he said, knowing that he was even considered for the accolade is quite humbling. "It an extreme honor to even be thought of in that type of light. I'm really incredibly blessed to be in the position I've been in and had the career that I have had," said Mr. Mowles, 76th Commodities Maintenance Group deputy director. When nominated for the award, Mr. Mowles served as the 551st Commodities Maintenance Squadron director. "Anything I've been recognized for is a direct reflection of the people who work for me. I've had a tremendous group around me all throughout my career." General Marquez is a retired deputy chief of staff for logistics and engineering for the Air Force. His namesake award is presented to Air Force military or civilians who perform outstandingly with certain professional tasks. The award has several categories and positions. Mr. Mowles said he didn't have an inkling about the award or his ranking until one day when Lt. Gen. Bruce Litchfield, Air Force Sustainment Center commander, walked through his work area and congratulated him on a job well done. Bewildered, Mr. Mowles asked, "What for?" The general didn't answer his question, but other officials told Mr. Mowles he'd been nominated for an "Employee of the Year" award. "I didn't win that, but in the middle of the complex awards ceremony, they asked me to stand up and that's when they made the announcement that I had won the Leo Marquez award," he said. Col. Mike Christian, 76th CMXG commander, who nominated Mr. Mowles for the award, said he's very proud of his deputy. "The bottom line is Mr. Mowles has done an outstanding job leading one of the most important maintenance operations within the complex," Colonel Christian said. "He's literally turned it into the shiny jewel of the depot in terms of cost-effective readiness for our warfighters. They've directly used continuous process improvement to leverage effectiveness and efficiency wherever it was to be found and did a remarkable job. His award is really just an outgrowth of all that." During Mr. Mowles' 26-month tenure as 551st CMMXS director, the squadron implemented several lean, CPI, modular flow and production processes. Mr. Mowles said the unit, in 2011, also scored its first outstanding AFMC Logistics Compliance Assessment rating, which led the group to also receive an outstanding score. This occurred while his team met daily programmed depot maintenance goals and took on bigger projects such as consolidating shops in five buildings into one at the former General Motors plant. "I've been in the Air Force 24 years and I have never known an Air Force civilian to win at that level of competition. It's very distinguished to be the best of the best," said Colonel Christian. "I can't think of anyone more deserving. He's shouldered the lion's share of the production of commodities for a long time and he's done it exceptionally well. He's very humble as an individual but effective as a leader and that's what the Marquez award is really all about."