97th LRS SMSgt wins MAJCOM award

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Cody Dowell
  • Altus Air Force Base Public Affairs

A member of the 97th Air Mobility Wing was named the 2019 Air Education and Training Command (AETC) General Lew Allen Jr. Trophy award winner. Allen was the 10th Chief of Staff of the Air Force, whose legacy was attention to detail and technical expertise and he credits the accomplishments of base-level officers and senior NCOs in their performance with the mission.

The General Lew Allen Jr. Trophy recognizes four individuals: two maintenance personnel directly involved in sortie generation and two logistics personnel directly involved in mission execution.

U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Anthony Krebs, the deployment and distribution flight superintendent assigned to the 97th Logistics Readiness Squadron, won the SNCO logistics readiness category. Krebs was nominated by his commander and did not expect to hear anything back from his submitted package.

“I was grateful when I was told I won,” said Krebs. “My commander told me that they were putting me in for an award and I gave them my best bullets from the past year and I thought it was just going to end right there. I hope this inspires and motivates others around me because it helps reinforce the work that members accomplish.”

Krebs attributes winning the award to the importance of connecting with Airmen, developing good lines of communication and building bridges where they need to help them accomplish the mission.

“I have always found that connecting with Airmen is an important value to have in the work center,” said Krebs. “Once you connect with an Airman that is when focusing on empowering them and process improvement can take place. Being a leader, it is valuable to find what Airmen’s strengths are and then just getting out of the way. Allowing Airmen to learn and develop from experiences is not something that is teachable. They can only learn from leadership helping guide them and learning from their mistakes.”

The deployment and distribution flight is several units tasked with a majority of logistics and implementation of transportation for the Air Force.

“LRS [Logistics Readiness Squadron] is like oxygen. It is always there when people need it and everybody uses it and nobody truly appreciates it until it is gone,” said Krebs. “Where I fit in is I make sure that Airmen trained, equipped and empowered to do their best work with the goal of enabling them to not only accomplish the mission but see where they have contributed. Plain and simple, I am here for them.”

A main factor Krebs attributes his success to, is the role he filled while deployed for eight months and the accomplishments he oversaw.

“While deployed, I was the squadron superintendent for the 332nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron and oversaw a lot of big projects during my time,” said Krebs. “The combination of my overseeing around 180 members while being deployed along with 350 Airmen here truly aided my ability to stand out from the people around me.”

Krebs recognizes that it took a team effort from his Airmen’s performance and the supervision that lead him to who he is today.

“I am thankful to my commander for nominating me and taking the time to put together the package,” said Krebs. “I also could not do it without every Airman, NCO, SNCO and CGO that I have alongside because no one wins an award by themselves.”

Winning an award like this, in Krebs opinion, is just another way to connect with, inspire and motivate Airmen.

“My advice to anyone who would want to be in my shoes one day is to do is a few simple things,” said Krebs. “Learn your job, be bold by making and standing by your decisions, always ask questions and get out of the way when necessary.”