Air Force Reserve earns kudos at end of year

Published Oct. 19, 2017
A rendering shows how the Pittsburgh Air Force Reserve Station will look when completed.

A rendering shows how the Pittsburgh Air Force Reserve Station will look when completed.

In the spring of 2016, the Air Force Reserve asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District to step up and commit to having $250 million of projects awarded by Sept. 13, 2017. At that point, very few of the requirements were defined, none of the projects were approved and no real plan existed to get to the end point. 

According to Scott Wall, Headquarters, Air Force Reserve Command, the team at Louisville was asked to push forward, and push forward they did. The last of the “dream projects” – those that had to be awarded by the end of fiscal year 2017 – was awarded on Sept. 27. “The teamwork, level of effort, the desire to find ways to accomplish the task, the drive to meet milestones and stay on track have truly been amazing,” said Wall. 

The team came together, bonded and accomplished contracting the projects in 17 months. The desire to succeed never wavered. 

It took everyone working together and moving in the same direction to get this accomplished. Cristie Mitchell, chief, Louisville District Air Force Reserve Support Section, was persistent and responded with positive reinforcement. 

“She never said ‘no’ or that the task couldn’t be complete, nor did she ever say ‘we can’t,’” said Wall. “She said, let me check, and we’ll figure it out.”

“Thank you from Headquarters Air Force Reserve Command, as well as all the staff at Niagara Falls, Pittsburgh and Seymour Johnson, Air Force Base, Goldsboro, North Carolina,” Wall continued. “The work you have done will have an impact on the Air Force Reserve Mission for many years.”

“I never doubted that we would succeed. I enjoyed seeing the three teams that included USACE, AFRC, Pittsburgh Air Force Reserve Station, Seymour Johnson AFB, Niagara Falls ARS come together,” Mitchell said. “The synergy created by these teams was amazing and contributed significantly to our success. A big ‘thanks’ to every single person who helped make this contracting happen.”