{"id":84638,"date":"2019-01-10T06:42:38","date_gmt":"2019-01-10T14:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=84638"},"modified":"2019-02-07T13:48:40","modified_gmt":"2019-02-07T21:48:40","slug":"aftcs-top-civilian-up-for-dod-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2019\/01\/10\/aftcs-top-civilian-up-for-dod-award\/","title":{"rendered":"AFTC\u2019s top civilian up for DOD award"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
David K. Robertson is the Air Force Test Center executive director based out of Edwards Air Force Base, California. For his dedication and service, the Air Force selected Robertson as this year\u2019s nominee for the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award. (U.S. Air Force photo by Kenji Thuloweit)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

EDWARDS AFB – A \u201cdiversity of experience\u201d is what David K. Robertson<\/strong> attributes to his rise from a GS-07 entry-level engineer to a member of the U.S. Government\u2019s Senior Executive Service.<\/p>\n

He began his career at Edwards AFB straight out of Fresno State University in 1986 and today he helps oversee a $31 billion test enterprise as the Air Force Test Center\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n

For his dedication and service, the Air Force selected Robertson as this year\u2019s nominee for the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award<\/em>, which is the highest award presented by the secretary of Defense to civilian employees whose careers reflect \u201cexceptional devotion to duty and significant contributions of broad scope to the efficiency, economy or other improvements in the operation of the DOD.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always done what the Air Force has asked of me as a civilian,\u201d said Robertson. \u201cI\u2019ve been both geographically and organizationally mobile, so wherever the Air Force told me to go, I packed my bags and went. My philosophy is never shut a door for you, [or you] may be eliminating opportunities you don\u2019t even know exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

This mobility Robertson refers to has taken him from Edwards to Hill Air Force Base, Utah; the Pentagon; Eglin Air Force Base, Florida; Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma; Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico; and eventually back to Edwards.<\/p>\n

Mobility, career-broadening assignments, completing Professional Military Education and obtaining advanced degrees turned out to be the formula for becoming an SES member and the only one in the AFTC.<\/p>\n

His duties are predominately focused on the development of the civilian workforce across the AFTC\u2019s three main installations to include Edwards AFB, Arnold Air Force Base, Tennessee; Eglin AFB, and units at Holloman AFB in New Mexico. Robertson also works labor relations across the test enterprise, along with managing AFTC\u2019s $7 billion service contracts, he said.<\/p>\n

While he acknowledges that not everyone wants to become a member of the SES, Robertson\u2019s advice to those who want to climb the ladder is to set career goals and develop a respective road map.<\/p>\n

\u201cPick a destination and then develop a road map to get there,\u201d said Robertson. \u201cThat road map or destination can, and most likely will, change over your career; and by destination I mean what grade level are you looking for? What location or organization are you looking for? Or what kind of job do you seek? Those things define in your mind what success is and where you want to end up. Once you do that, you need to develop a viable road map to get you to that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robertson also said civilian employees should find mentors beyond their unit\u2019s immediate supervisors and\/or leadership, such as people within their functional domain or at other centers, major commands or even at the Air Force level where they can ask career development questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can develop your road map on your end, but then run it by others that have been at that level or above who can pass down their lessons learned and\/or experiences\/opportunities,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n

Other items for career-minded civilians to focus on should be Civilian Developmental Education opportunities that are announced in March each year. If there is something that interests an employee, they should understand how it fits into their road map and be willing to raise their hand to include vocalizing if they are willing to relocate geographically or organizationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to move around to get different experiences,\u201d said Robertson. \u201cThat\u2019s what the Air Force is looking for \u2014 diversity of experience. We don\u2019t want you to sit in the same job for 40 years. It\u2019s a plus to you as an individual because you\u2019re learning something new and then it\u2019s good for the organization because you\u2019re bringing different experiences and ways of doing things to the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe longest I have ever stayed in a job was two years until I got to this job where I\u2019ve been for four-and a-half-years…I\u2019m not saying everyone has to do two years, but it\u2019s what I did to optimize that diversity of experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he understands the impacts on family if people are constantly geographically moving, but there are ways to develop diversity locally.<\/p>\n

At his first stint at Edwards, Robertson said he started out at Edwards working F-16s then moved to the then F-15 Short Takeoff and Landing program. He later went to Test Safety for another two years and then to the Tri-Service Standoff Attack Missile program where he eventually capitalized on an opportunity at Hill AFB.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven here at Edwards you can still move around the different (combined test forces) like I was doing. You can go over to Test Safety to make sure you understand that side of the house. There\u2019s instrumentation, maintenance and the range; or you can career broaden to the Air Force Research Lab or Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, this strategy is however somewhat dependent on what your functional area is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winners of the DOD level awards will be announced later this year. No matter what the outcome is, Robertson said he enjoys his position and commended the AFTC workforce for its enthusiasm and dedication to the mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever we have senior leaders visit the different AFTC sites they are marveled at how the personnel are really energized about the mission,\u201d Robertson said. \u201cYou can\u2019t beat the test mission, I can tell you that firsthand. I\u2019ve been in logistics and acquisition, Headquarters Air Force career-broadening assignments, and you just can\u2019t beat it.\u201d<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EDWARDS AFB – A \u201cdiversity of experience\u201d is what David K. Robertson attributes to his rise from a GS-07 entry-level engineer to a member of the U.S. Government\u2019s Senior Executive Service. He began his career at Edwards AFB straight out of Fresno State University in 1986 and today he helps oversee a $31 billion test […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":84639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1494],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}