Airmen win AF maintenance awards

  • Published
  • By Kevin Gaddie
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Maj. Jose Lasso, the 96th Maintenance Squadron commander, and Senior Airman Mark Blinn, a lead standardization crew member with the 96th Maintenance Group, were recently named 2012 Lt. Gen. Leo Marquez award recipients.

The Air Force award is given to maintainers who demonstrate the highest degree of sustained job performance, job knowledge and job efficiency in the aircraft, munitions and missile and communications/electronics maintenance categories.

The Airmen were recognized in the missiles and munitions category. Lasso was named field grade manager of the year, while Blinn was named best missile technician in the Airman category.

Lasso, stationed here since June 2012, has 220 people under his administrative and operational command. He is also a functional commander for 50 aircraft integration equipment and transient alert personnel.

"We provide munitions and maintenance support to various airframes, such as F- 15, F-16, CV-22, C-130 aircraft, and we support numerous ground and flightline operations customers," he said.

One of Lasso's key responsibilities is the precision measurement equipment laboratory, where equipment used in every phase of aircraft maintenance is calibrated, he said.

Lasso said winning the award is a reflection of his squadron's professionalism.

"This is more of a squadron award, than an individual award," he said. "Like the saying 'it takes a village' to raise a child, it takes a bunch of people to raise professionals. In that regard, I've been fortunate to be surrounded by a group of professional individuals."

The Cali, Colombia native enlisted in the Air Force in 1992, with no intentions of staying.

"I got out after my first four years and nine months, as a senior airman," Lasso said. "I'm proud of what I did then - it set a foundation for many different things I've done in my career."

During a three-and-a-half year break in service, he earned his master's degree in aeronautical engineering.

"Then I became a commissioned officer, not expecting to be a commander at any given point," he said.

Lasso described himself as being passionate about what he does.

"I love candid conversations with my troops," he said. "I find that my troops are confident, cool, calm and collected. That's my style of leadership as well. As I make my rounds through the squadron, I find my troops saying 'come over here, sir, let me show you what we do. I'm happy for their confidence in me and their comfort level with me."

Lasso doesn't plan to finish his career after completing his tour here.

"I'm going to keep going," he said. "I think I still have a lot to offer. I love to push people to become successful. I want to continue to pull people, too."

Blinn's award win came as a surprise.

When I heard I won the award, my reaction was 'really?'" he said. "I received e-mails from many people I didn't know, congratulating me. It hasn't been easy, but I'm glad that a year's worth of work has led to this. It was a team effort."

Blinn, from Lansing, Mich., enlisted in the Air Force in May 2009 and has been stationed here since February 2011. He works on weapons systems for various aircraft, including the F-4, F-15, F-16, F-35, A-10 and C-130.

"About 50 percent my job is evaluations," he said. "We ensure the flightline personnel have the most current technical data, knowledge and training on what they need to know and what they need to apply in their job. At scheduled monthly evaluations, we either tell them they're doing a great job or we tell them what they need to study up on or fix. We also test all the new munitions for our airframes that come to Eglin. We either break them and send them back, or approve them and send them out."

Blinn said what he likes most about his job is the people he works with.

"I have great leadership," he said. "They've gotten me to where I am today. I work with a lot of positive people. We're all smiles and high fives. Our squadron commander talks to us regularly and give us what we need to do the job."

Two award package bullets he said he's most proud of are writing technical orders on C-130 missions and working off-duty with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Eglin's range.

Blinn likes being outdoors and was encouraged to join the Air Force by family members who served in the military.

"My father and grandfather were in the Army and my uncle was in the Navy," he said. "As a child, I liked activities like hunting and fishing. I always thought the military would be a good fit for me. They said 'join the Air Force, it's the best thing for you.' I believed them and here I am."

Blinn, with a mixture of confidence and caution, said he wants to make the Air Force a career.

"I like serving at Eglin," he said. "It's a beautiful place. We have a great mission. With sequestration and rollbacks coming, I'm a little scared about the future, but it just drives me to work harder and be better than the next person."