1 SOLRS training manager has good reason for new office space clutter

Published July 29, 2009
By 2nd Lt. Mark Lazane
1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs

HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- "With kids in school, I have to work," said Kathleen Denny, 1st Special Operations Logistics Readiness Squadron education and training manager. "But it's my choice to work with the military."

Work is something to which Ms. Denny is accustomed, due in part to her 17-year military career.

For her efforts within the squadron, Ms. Denny has been named the 2008 Unit Education and Training Manager Senior Civilian of the Year, an annual award that recognizes the top senior civilian training manager in the Air Force.

Ms. Denny is responsible for ensuring the men and women who work in her squadron are up to date on all aspects of their professional military education and any other training requirements. Originally, she was only in charge of the unit's enlisted Airmen's training, but the scope of her job grew rapidly to include all officer and civilian training requirements as well.

Ms. Denny's coworkers are well aware of her tireless efforts on behalf of Airmen.

"She cares," said Tech. Sgt. Stefanie Kollar, assistant NCO-in-charge of training, who shares an office with Ms. Denny. "She has a passion for this job and for taking care of people. She doesn't let a lot of things bother her that might bother other people.

As a retired master sergeant in the training and education field and with two other civil service jobs in the training manager field under her belt, Ms. Denny came into her present position with an expert knowledge of requirements and regulations that allowed her to quickly get in step with the squadron's requirements.

"Even though I'm retired, the military is still very much a part of my life," she said. "I do my job because it's what's required of me. I don't do this job for the paycheck. I do it to make sure my people are taken care of. I'm still military at heart."

Regardless of the reasons behind her work ethic, her can-do attitude has been infectious throughout her five years on the job.

"I get here at 6:30 a.m. most days, and she'll already be in the office working," Sergeant Kollar, a maintainer who is filling a special duty billet in the training section, said. "She is amazing. Because of her, a grease monkey like me learned to move a mouse and use a pencil."

Though Ms. Denny does not do her job solely to satisfy her chain of command, they too have taken notice of her superior skills.

"Ms. Denny's contributions to the 1st SOLRS over the past few years has been critical to the Air Staff-directed reorganization of the squadron," said Fredrick Alley, 1st SOLRS deputy commander and Ms. Denny's supervisor. "She quickly mastered the centralized automated training program and was requested by name to take her unique skills to other wings in order to get their programs established. She's a consummate perfectionist and one of the best at what she does in her career field."

Judging from the array of hardware encroaching upon her office, others readily agree, and Ms. Denny may not even be finished adding to it yet.

"I'm not going anywhere soon," Ms. Denny said. "I like to work. I'll work until the civil service people tell me I'm retired."