JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas –
Airmen from the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center recently won all four categories of the Air Force Materiel Command Lance P. Sijan Awards.
The annual awards, created in 1981, recognize Airmen who demonstrated the highest qualities of leadership in their professional and personal lives. Named after an Air Force captain and fighter pilot who died while a prisoner of war in Vietnam, the Sijan has become one of the U.S. Air Force's most prestigious awards.
“In my 30-year Air Force career, I have not seen a unit win every category in a major command competition, let alone the highly competitive Sijan awards,” said Chief Master Sgt. Dana Council, AFIMSC command chief master sergeant. “We have tremendous leaders across Air Force Materiel Command. A sweep of the award in our parent command is unheard of and speaks to the caliber and character of the Airmen in AFIMSC.”
Here’s a look at the winners and their accomplishments:
Tech. Sgt. Guthrie McMahon, AFIMSC Operations Directorate, Junior Enlisted Category: Security Forces Major Command Functional Area Manager Tech. Sgt. Guthrie McMahon filled a senior NCO billet to transition the security forces career field from Air Expeditionary Force taskings to the Air Force Force Generation model of combined training and deployments. He also expertly led 264 unit training managers while overseeing, vetting and scheduling 18 formal training courses for eight major commands, 110 units and more than 43,000 Total Force members. By creating a functional area manager communicator and unit deployment managers’ directory, McMahon enabled real-time deployment readiness info sharing, leading 168 unit points of contact through AFFORGEN sourcing changes. During the award period, he also volunteered to attend the grueling 35-day Security Forces Combat Leaders Course at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis where he survived a 40% washout rate, led the class during a 24/7 3-day culminating field training exercise and earned the coveted Top Shot Award.
Master Sgt. Freddie Kincaid, AF Installation Contracting Center, Senior Enlisted Category: Air Force Installation Contracting Center Master Sgt. Freddie Kincaid filled a 14-month vacant senior enlisted leader position where he led his 772nd Enterprise Sourcing Squadron team in the execution of more than 250 actions valued at $620 million while controlling a $17 billion contract portfolio, a 112% increase from Fiscal Year 2023. Has a deployed SEL, he managed 10 contingency contracting officers executing a $456 million portfolio to maximize warfighting capabilities for 35 joint units. While deployed, he also Instituted the air expeditionary wing’s first decentralized government purchase card program to give Airmen rapid acquisition authority to support power their 25 units with a $9 million portfolio. By cutting lead times by 95%, his initiative enabled 59 buys of more than $106,000 in three days when medical supplies and equipment were needed in response to drone attack recovery efforts. As the Top III vice president, he led eight subcommittees, unified five private organizations and guided 30 instructors teaching 64 life skills courses to delivering personal development to 300 Airmen.
Capt. Chase Lehocky, AF Installation Contracting Center, Junior Officer Category: AFICC 772nd ESS Deputy Flight Chief Capt. Chase Lehocky led his 37-member team in the support of 188 bases across nine MAJCOMs globally. Filling the vacant section chief position, his leadership resulted in 70 contract actions totaling $152 million in support of Air Force Civil Engineer Center, Air Force Central Command, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Pacific Air Forces and continental United States research and development efforts. During the award period, he also fulfilled the mandated Secretary of Defense requirement for other countries' national escort by priming two contract actions valued at $196 million and eliminated 1,000 deployments annually. He also energized a 19-member, multi-functional team during AFCEC's $180 million cybersecurity contract award protest and negotiated a bridge contract in less than a week, saving $1.8 million and preventing network intrusions from malicious near-peer adversaries.
Maj. Michael Shane, AFIMSC Detachment 2 - Operating Location Andersen AFB, Guam, Senior Officer Category: Serving as chief of the Det. 2 OL at Andersen AFB, Chief Maj. Michael Shane led a nine-person team in overseeing 500 joint and allied engineers executing 27 military construction projects scoped at $3.7 billion across three countries in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command to set the theater for the Great Power Competition by 2027. He also coordinated seven higher headquarters, two sister services and an allied partner to align infrastructure with mission needs. These efforts delivered cradle-to-grave design expertise for four projects, eliminating more than 210 design errors. He also directed a joint team in delivering 36 facilities to Andersen AFB, Guam. These facilities increased explosive storage capacity by 16 million pounds, enabled in-house Global Hawk maintenance and reduced munitions load times by 77%. Shane also led a team of 16 staff agencies in an unprecedented MILCON siting re-approval action after award which enabled Pacific Air Forces to operationalize an entire airfield for agile combat employment and distributed forward operations.
These AFMC award winners now go forward to the Air Force Sijan awards competition.