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Cannon Weapons NCO to vie for Air Force honors

  • Published
  • By Greg Allen
  • 27th Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  When Tech. Sgt. Chris Cochran joined the Air Force 14 years ago he wanted to work with things that went boom.

Now, as the noncommissioned officer in charge of a team of 12 Airmen here, he and his team ensures that everything from the bullets issued to security forces Airmen to 105 mm rounds loaded onto aircraft will go "boom" if necessary.

Sergeant Cochran will represent the Air Force Special Operations Command at the Air Force level and compete for the General Leo Marquez Award. The prestigious honor recognizes Airmen who have demonstrated the highest degree of sustained job performance, job knowledge and efficiency.

The sergeant believes his selection was due to the efforts of his team and how they were able to effectively transition from Air Combat Command to Air Force Special Operations.

"We beat expectations by leaps and bounds," he said, adding that he still enjoys getting up in the morning to go to work.

"I like the camaraderie; we work more as a family," he said.

"We inspect all munitions, $3.1 million worth, to make sure there is no deterioration caused by the weather or storage conditions," said Sergeant Cochran. If there is a problem, it gets reported up the chain to determine if it needs to be destroyed locally or elsewhere.

Senior Master Sgt. Lyle Winnicki, Munitions Flight Chief, said Sergeant Cochran has been his 'go to' man for several years.

"He's really one of those guys you don't have to worry about," said Sergeant Winnicki, "He just does what he has to do and that lets me do what I need to do."

Munitions inspection is a continuous never-ending process that Sergeant Cochran has done here for four years as well more than 900 days of deployments that include two tours in Iraq, three in Turkey, Kuwait as well as other locations. He said he averages 40-50 hours a week at work as well as being on call.

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