Sheppard wins MAJCOM, AF level awards

by Airman 1st Class Jelani Gibson
82nd Training Wing Public Affairs

3/14/2014 - SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Two Airmen at Sheppard were congratulated here on their accomplishments at both the Air Force and major command level.

Frank Carter, 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs photographer, earned the Civilian Photographer of the Year award at the Air Force level and Stephen Paxton, a 363rd Training Squadron maintenance instructor, won the Lieutenant General Leo Marquez award for Air Education and Training Command.

The Civilian Photographer of the Year award is a part of the Air Force Media Contest, a public affairs competition that recognizes excellence in the print, photography, broadcast and musician career fields.

The Lieutenant General Leo Marquez award recognizes base level military and civil service aircraft, munitions and missile maintenance personnel who perform hands on maintenance or manage a maintenance function.

For Carter, he was always drawn to the arts and the creativity it fostered into a career that would span over 22 years.

"Every class that was open, I'd take it," he said.

When he joined the U.S. Army in 1974, his hobby was noticed by his commander and he ended up becoming a special duty brigade photographer. He left in 1977 and attended the Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, Calif., where he built upon his hobby and made it into a profession.

Soon enough he finished his bachelor's in three years and graduated at the top of his class in 1991. He credits the skills he learned here as what elevated him to his current level of photography today.

"I just worked day and night," he said. "I ate, slept and breathed photography."

For Paxton, his award was a confirmation of the passion he holds for his job.

"It's an individual award, but no one does it alone" he said. "You need the support of the people you work with and I work with great people."

A former maintenance officer himself, Paxton uses that experience to impart words of wisdom to his students.

"It enhances their perspective," he said. "I've been where they're going."

While both recipients received high profile awards, they remain humble about their achievement.

"It's an honor," Carter said. "I went up against some pretty tough competition. It was a surprise to me."

Paxton just saw the award as a way of putting in maximum effort.

"Grow where you are planted, do the absolute best you can and the career will take care of the rest," he said.