Charles North Wins AETC Readiness Civilian of the Year for 2009

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Cherice Bryant
  • 97 Air Mobiliy Wing Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Charles W. North, Deputy Chief of Wing Inspections for the 97th Air Mobility Wing, is the Air Education and Training Command Readiness Civilian of the Year for 2009.

This award is given to most outstanding civilian individuals whose hard work and contributions play a large role in the base's performance throughout the year.

According to his nomination, the leadership and guidance North has provided has greatly improved the installation's disaster response force. He has consistently demonstrated superior work while creating and evaluating a total of 32 real-world incident exercises. After each exercise North evaluates the results and effects in order to fine tune plans for the next. This has greatly improved the installation's ability to be prepared for any contingency and response, and ultimately led the base to receive a rating of "Excellent" for the AETC Unit Compliance Inspection. North's work with the wing has not only made major advancement for the base, but for the surrounding community as well. In addition to being an outstanding leader, North was the recipient of the 2009 Altus AFB Mid-level Civilian of the Year and the 2009 Altus AFB "Unsung Hero" award. North is very adamant on accrediting a lot of the recognition he has received to all the personnel on his team.

"This job requires a team that works together, puts in long hours, a wife that understands the need for the overtime, and having knowledge on how other agencies work. It takes all of this and more to put an exercise on. This is not a one-person show. I have been fortunate to work for and with outstanding personnel," said North.

Having contingency plans and practiced responses to emergency events is vital to any bases personnel and protocol. A lot of extensive work goes into planning for these types of responses. The coordinating of role playing and sequence of events has to portray a real-world incident as realistically as possible in order for the installation to get the most out of it.

"You have to be like a movie producer to tie everything together to put on an exercise. It takes the backing from leadership, an exceptional leader like Capt. Ponn, and the expertise of 60 plus exercise evaluation team members. I was just the fortunate one to have his name tied to this process. This is a team effort award," said North.

Among North's long list of contributions to the base, he tested severe weather response plans that helped to safeguard over 4,500 base personnel, continuously prepped wing leadership in installation control center operations, corrected installation response shortfalls and helped the base to receive a pass rate of 96 percent in the most recent exercise, which is a huge wing improvement.

North created top-notch exercise handbooks which serve as an exercise roadmap and contains objectives, timelines and assignments. His work has helped to bridge the gaps between agencies during exercises by integrating operations between exercise plans and mission support group leaders. He has helped to ensure the 97th AMW readiness status is above and beyond standards, and that the Wing's leaders are always well informed.

All of these accomplishments and more is why North has earned this prestigious award. His hard work, dedication, superior leadership and team work skills have greatly benefited the base and its personnel.

North served 20 years of service in the Air Force and is a retired master sergeant. His previous jobs include maintenance operations center aircraft production controller and he has worked in management and program analysis within wing plans before becoming deputy chief of wing Inspections.