Air Force members recognized for decades of public service

  • Published
  • By Terri Moon Cronk
  • American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON (AFNS) --  With 50 years of service each, two Air Force public servants were among 39 men and women recognized in the Pentagon courtyard May 5 with the Spirit of Service award honoring those whose government careers have spanned 48 to 68 years.

As part of Public Service Recognition Week, May 1 through 7, Sara Brown and Joe Lineburger, of the Air Force Materiel Command and Air Force Review Board Agency, respectively, received a commemorative pin, a plaque and kudos from keynote speaker Michael Rhodes, the director of administration and management in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and William Lynn III, the deputy secretary of defense.

"These are some of the more tenured public servants in their components, who have more than 50 or 60 years of combined military and civil service," Mr. Rhodes, said. "Through their dedicated work for the Department of Defense, they've had a hand in creating the world we live in today."

Ceremony attendees included Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Daniel Ginsberg, who lauded the honorees, some of whom had more than 60 years of experience in public service.

"Most started their public service before the U.S. military was involved in Vietnam," Mr. Rhodes said. "They served through the tense years of the Cold War, saw the Soviet Union fade as an adversary and watched the military draw down in the 1990s. Some were in this building when our nation was attacked nearly 10 years ago, Sept. 11, 2001."

The honorees' careers spanned a significant time in U.S. history, Mr. Rhodes said, adding that day-in and day out, their dedication did not waver.

Public servants assisted President Harry S. Truman in creating a unified Defense Department in 1947, he said.

"For more than five decades, each of the tremendous public servants we're celebrating today has ensured our military strength and readiness," Mr. Rhodes said. "They meant business and they got business done."

(Master Sgt. Amaani Lyle contributed to this story)