Incirlik Airman wins AFA Outstanding Civilian Employee of the Year

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  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

Ben Crosby, 39th Contracting Squadron performance management flight chief, was selected as the 2016 Air Force Association Outstanding Air Force Civilian Employee of the Year, for the Civilian Program Manager Category.

Crosby led 51 members to transfer United States Air Forces in Europe’s largest contract swap worth approximately one billion dollars. He was responsible for the seamless transfer of over 1,000 contractors from one vendor to another.  

 Before he discovered contracting a couple of years ago, he was a special education teacher.

“I didn’t know it existed until they offered me the job,” said Crosby.

He started contracting with the government when he was running a workshop for adults with disabilities. He realized what a big sector government contracting was and studied to get a Master Business Administration degree. He was then recruited out of the MBA program to become a contractor with the U.S. Air Force.

Crosby said he never imagined himself working as a contractor for the Air Force.

It was a chance to get a government job, he said. It was the height of the recession and there was not a lot of jobs available for those who were changing career fields.

Crosby has now been in government contracting for a little over seven years and has been at Incirlik for about 18 months.

For Crosby, this is not an award he won on his own.

“It’s humbling. I don’t think it’s an award I won, it’s an award my team won and they put my name on it,” said Crosby.

Maj. Bennet Burton, 39th CONS commander, has been working with Crosby every day since he arrived at Incirlik.

“Mr. Crosby has done an amazing job,” said Burton. “He has been an asset for the squadron. Not only was he able to transition USAFE’s largest service vendor from one vendor to another but he was also able dissect it to find out where the issues would be, and found mechanisms to mitigate the risks.”

Aside from this task, Crosby has been a strong worker who mentors and leads his co-workers.

“Crosby is very inspiring to the people that work around him within the entire unit,” said Burton. “He has had people over to his home, he is mentoring military, and the civilians. Any position I have been able to put him in, he has always excelled.”

Winning the award gave recognition to not only to the award winner, but the entire squadron.

“I am truly grateful for the time here at Incirlik to work with such great people,” said Crosby.