From Airman to civilian: committed to serving

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, FL, UNITED STATES

01.27.2017

Story by Airman 1st Class Isaiah Soliz 

325th Fighter Wing

Spending 20 years in the U.S. Air Force translates to a life of service before self. Continuing to work with the armed services after retirement showcases a commitment to civil service and the ideals that the U.S. Air Force instills in its members.
Retired Master Sgt. David Kigerl served in the U.S. Air Force for 20 years first as an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile maintainer and then as a manpower technician.
Originally a Florida resident, Kigerl spent the first 10 years of his career maintaining ICBM’s at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota.
Amidst his career in the U.S. Air Force the biggest challenge he believes he faced was cross training from ICBM maintenance to a manpower technician.
“Figuring out how to cross train was difficult for me,” said Kigerl. “At a certain point I began thinking of what could I do that could help me in 10 years when I retire or when I have a second career, and there is not much to do in missile maintenance.”
Since making the transition, Kigerl is confident that contracting was a great second career choice for him.
Kigerl retired in 2010 and began working for Northrup Grumman in contract administration before becoming a general schedule (GS) employee at First Air Force Air Forces Northern.
Four years ago Kigerl joined the 325th Contracting Squadron as a contracting specialist where he has built a reputation as the go-to expert at getting tasks done no matter how big or small.
“David epitomizes service before self,” said Major Bryan Lamb, 325th Contracting Squadron commander. “Not only does he work tirelessly to support Team Tyndall from a contracting perspective, he is involved in some way in nearly every facet of the squadron. He recently dedicated dozens of hours of his personal time to the renovation of our Squadron Heritage room. He has numerous assigned additional duties, and fills other critical roles because he sees things that just need to be done and so he takes action.”
Kigerl enjoys the experience of having an opportunity to interact with the different unit missions and tenant units on Tyndall.
“One of my favorite parts of working in contracting is working with all the different agencies on base,” said Kigerl. “Not all bases have the luxury of housing a contracting unit, and to me it is definitely more beneficial to be here where we can interact with the units. I’m here to see everything and help units work out the problems, meet face to face, meet with contractors, with customers, all of which is better than a teleconference.”
Although Kigerl no longer wears the uniform, he still keeps the core values close to heart and continues to strive to meet the standards of integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do.
“I think it’s more about David’s love for the Air Force, and his personal commitment to our core values, that transcends just his role as a contract specialist,” said Lamb. “He does what he does because he wants to see things done right and has little tolerance for sub-standard performance. He helps set the tone in our squadron, and he’s really an example to all of our Airmen. Sometimes you’re lucky enough to have someone in your squadron who can’t be defined by a duty title or personnel description, because they take on so many other duties as assigned. He’s one of those guys, and simply makes the Contracting Squadron work.”

• Date Taken: 01.27.2017
• Date Posted: 02.02.2017 17:19
• Story ID: 222359
• Location: TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, FL, US