Photo By Tech. Sgt. Wesley Jones | U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Stephanique Watkins, 117th Operations Squadron...... read more read more
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This month’s Excellent Airman is Master Sgt. Stephanique Watkins, Operations Squadron, Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC) , Commander Support Squadron (CSS) and Unit Deployment Manager (UDM) for the 117th Operations Group (OG)!
Watkins joined the guard in 2010 and has served both at the 117th Air Refueling Wing and the 187th Fighter Wing. Her military interest began in high school when she joined the Joint Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) to learn more about making the military a career.
“I initially loved the way the uniforms looked and wanted to wear it!” said Watkins. “As soon as I could, I joined JRTOC and was actively involved from 9th to 12th grade.”
Watkins works full time at the 117th OG and wears multiple hats aside from her full-time job as CSS NCOIC and UDM. Recently, she played a crucial role in getting deployers ready to go overseas.
“This was my first deployment assignment as the UDM and it was a large group of people,” said Watkins. “We were also the first to implement a new deployment readiness program.”
Watkins looked for ways to efficiently train her deployers and to scale certain requirements for deployment processes.
“It was a lot and it was all new to me,” said Watkins. “People usually don’t like ‘new,’ but we all came together and it worked out great!”
Watkins says her favorite part about the military is getting the opportunity to travel. She visited Germany on a temporary deployment last year and was able to have some truly unique experiences.
“Being able to get inside the cockpit of one of our jets to see what the pilots see and interacting with the boom operators, it’s an experience I will never forget,” said Watkins.
When Watkins is not working, she is usually spending time with her daughter, Kynsley, playing and traveling, and spending quality time together. Watkins also has hobbies like photography, being a disc jockey, and gardening.
| Date Taken: | 11.02.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.07.2024 14:38 |
| Story ID: | 486911 |
| Location: | BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 32 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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