Team Kadena member nominated for Outstanding Civilian of the Year

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Maeson L. Elleman
  • 18th Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Martin Hansen, 18th Contracting Squadron contracting officer, has been selected as a Pacific Air Forces nominee for the 2011 Air Force Association Outstanding Civilian of the Year Program.

Each year, AFA officials recognize four Air Force civilian employees for outstanding achievement, evaluated on the nature of the achievement, development of techniques or procedures that significantly increased mission effectiveness, and breadth of impact.

Each major command, field operating agency and direct reporting unit may only nominate one person for each award. Mr. Hansen is now competing against other civilian Air Force employees in PACAF.

"It's exciting because it's nice to be recognized for your work and your efforts," said Mr. Hansen.

During 2010, Mr. Hansen was the "indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity," or IDIQ team lead for construction contracts for the base, which gave him approving authority for projects on Kadena.

As the team lead, Mr. Hansen was responsible for millions of dollars invested into numerous crucial contracts on the base, allowing the continued successful completion of Kadena's mission.

Some of these contracts included repaving Kadena's runways, repairing residential housing roofs, asbestos removal from officers' quarters, renovating the aircraft control towers, and projects on other installations on Okinawa that assisted the other services.

Lt. Col. Phillip Hendrix, 18th CONS commander, said Mr. Hansen's devotion to performance during his time at Kadena is indicative to the Air Force Core Values of integrity, service before self, and excellence in all we do, especially when dealing with the vast amounts of funding funneled through the squadron.

"I absolutely think he deserves to win," said Colonel Hendrix. "He's an inspiration to others in the squadron, whether they're our newest enlisted member just out of tech school, or they've been in the Air Force for 15 years."