Eglin maintainer wins Marquez award

  • Published
  • By Kevin Gaddie
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Capt. Cory Helms, a 96th Maintenance Squadron maintenance operations officer, is the recipient of the 2013 United States Air Force Leo Marquez Munitions and Missile Maintenance Company Grade Officer of the Year award.

Helms, from King George, Va., said he received notice of winning the prestigious award in a congratulatory message sent from his home-unit commander while deployed.

The annual award was created to recognize Air Force members working in the aircraft munitions and missile maintenance career fields. The awards program was named for the late Lt. Gen. Leo Marquez, who served in the U.S. Air Force as deputy chief of staff for logistics and engineering.

Helms, who recently returned from a deployment to the 380th Mission Support Group, where he served as the executive officer, was credited in part in the award citation with providing munitions maintenance and precision calibration support as maintenance operations officer for the 96th Maintenance Squadron. His efforts were key to developmental and operational testing, ultimately affecting the entire Air Force community.

"Cory is one of the finest munitions/maintenance officers I have had the pleasure of working with in my 30-year career," said Col. Eric North, the 96th Maintenance Group commander.  "He is a true professional in that he does superior work no matter what task he is given and he takes care of his people. His ability to strike that delicate balance is what sets Cory apart from his peers. It isn't surprising to me that he won this Air Force level award.  He has the skill set that the Air Force needs to capitalize on and ones we need as a future senior leader."

This was the first time he garnered an Air Force level award.

"It's just a great honor to receive this award at the Air Force level," Helms said. "It's just amazing."

Helms was excited to have been selected as this year's winner of the national award but was quick to include his coworkers to share in the accolades.

"That awards package that I received highlights the outstanding efforts of the members of my unit," Helms said. Clearly they do some amazing things, and this just highlights it for them, so it's awesome."

Helms says he will be presented with his award at a later date and his name and photograph will be permanently added to the Marquez award wall display located in the Pentagon.

(Senior Master Sgt. Eric Peterson, 380th Air Expeditionary Wing public affairs, contributed to this article.)