A Rock Solid Warrior: Staff Sgt. Kelli Floyd

Published May 9, 2014
By Staff Sgt. Jeremy Bowcock
386 Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- This week's Rock Solid Warrior is Staff Sgt. Kelli Floyd. Floyd is a contracting officer assigned to the 386th Expeditionary Contracting Squadron. The Loogootee, Ind. native is deployed from the 49th Contracting Squadron, Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.

Q: What is your family's military heritage (anyone else in your family who was/is in the military?):
A: My grandfathers from both sides served in the Army during WWII, I have one cousin in the Marines, and one in the Army. They all told me to join the Air Force.

Q: What is your mission here (in general terms)?
A: I am the sole Contracting Officer (CO) for the 387 AEG. My mission is to acquire anything that they need, from $1.00 commodity to $2M in construction. I buy it all. Requirements come to me through the group's resource advisor and I determine the best method in which to get it for them. I am a member of the Infrastructure Flight and have also got to do some work with 386 ECES.

Q: What are some of the best parts of your mission?
A: I love to network and meet new people, which is something that I am able to do a lot of in contracting. Also we get to travel to town a lot which is always an experience. Learning how the local economy works and experiencing the local culture has been a real eye opener for me and I think that have grown as a CO while being here.

Q: What are some of the challenges you face while conducting your mission, and how do you overcome them?
A: Even though the U.S. has had a presents here for several years, working with the local vendors can be a challenge. Our business practices in the U.S. are complex and can be hard for even American vendors to understand. We have some of the best contractors in the world here on base but dealing with issues such as base passing and contract payment has been challenging.

Q: How does your job differ in a deployed environment vs. home base?
A: Back home the work is spread out much more amongst teams and I am strictly a CO. Here I am a Government Purchase Card holder, Contract Specialist, and a CO. At first I thought the work would be too much, but getting back to the basics and being able to do things that I haven't done at home station has been extremely rewarding. I am able to see the impact that my work has on a unit almost immediately here, which is awesome.

Q: How many times have you deployed?
A: This is my first deployment.

Q: What makes this deployment unique?
A: I am very grateful that this is my first deployment location. I have learned a lot so far and I fell more prepared for deployments in the future.

Q: Why did you join the Air Force?
A: I joined the Air Force to get travel and to get an education, both of which I have been blessed to accomplish.

(The Rock Solid Warrior is a weekly spotlight focused on an outstanding member of the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing. These unsung heroes have been nominated by their unit leadership to be recognized for their efforts while deployed.)