Capt. Eric Clingenpeel, 19th Contracting Squadron acquisitions flight commander, was recently named the 2025 Air Force Contracting Company Grade Officer of the Year.
Clingenpeel learned of the honor unexpectedly while running on a track with his headphones in. A dictated text message from a former classmate congratulated him on the selection.
“I didn’t know it was coming out that day,” Clingenpeel said. “That morning in our staff meeting, the word was that higher command was still working on it, so it could be any day—maybe next week, maybe the week after.”
By the time he returned to the squadron, his commander was waiting to congratulate him. For Clingenpeel, however, the recognition was never about individual achievement. He views the award as a reflection of his unit’s performance during an especially demanding year.
The Air Force Contracting Company Grade Officer of the Year award is a functional-level honor comparable in prestige to traditional Airman or CGO of the Year awards, but specific to the contracting career field. Unlike traditional awards that progress through squadron, group, wing and major command levels, this award advances through the contracting functional chain, from base or squadron level through the Air Force Installation Contracting Center and across the Air Force.
A significant factor in Clingenpeel’s selection was his seven-month tour as squadron commander, during which he served on G-series orders as a first lieutenant. The deployment of nine of the squadron’s most experienced personnel created an immediate leadership and expertise gap.
“When the deployers were gone, the average experience in the squadron—excluding our senior enlisted leader—was under two years, including myself,” Clingenpeel said. “I took command with about 12 months of contracting experience.”
That limited military experience required the squadron to rely heavily on its civilian workforce.
“On the civilian side, the average is more than a decade of experience,” he said. “Our acquisitions flight commander has a doctorate in contracting. Our government purchase card flight commander is a former master sergeant who’s been here for 20 years. Our deputy, the civilian equivalent of a director of operations, is a former squadron commander and has also been here for about 20 years.”
Clingenpeel also led the squadron through a major policy disruption last January, when an executive order temporarily paused all civilian-held government purchase cards, or GPCs. At the time, civilians accounted for nearly half of the base’s cardholders, including those in large organizations such as civil engineering and wing staff agencies.
“We had to mobilize our GPC office,” Clingenpeel said. “They did an amazing job training about 30 new military members, so every account still had a cardholder. We lost about 80% of our cardholders on base overnight, but we made sure our buying power wasn’t cut off.”
For roughly a month, individual military cardholders were trained to manage multiple accounts in units that had previously relied solely on civilian cardholders. While higher headquarters later restored civilian accounts, there was no initial timeline for the change.
Clingenpeel credited much of the squadron’s success during that period to his senior enlisted leader, who arrived about a month after he assumed command, and to weekly coordination meetings with Air Mobility Command contracting squadron commanders that helped clarify evolving guidance and executive orders.
Ultimately, Clingenpeel said the award reflects the resilience and teamwork of the squadron.
“I’m very grateful for the recognition, but I didn’t do it alone,” he said. “It took everybody punching above their weight to keep operations going.”
Looking ahead, Clingenpeel hopes his recent win encourages other young leaders to trust their abilities and lean on the experience of those around them, especially in moments that feel insurmountable.