Sergeant earns 2009 Cullins Award

  • Published
  • By Chaplain Randall Groves
  • Chaplain Resource Division
F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. --  Master Sgt. Phillip Watson, 90th Missile Wing superintendent of chapel operations, recently set a precedent in Warren's chaplain history. He has earned the 2009 Gerrald Cullins award for the second year in a row.

The 2009 Gerrald Cullins award goes to the outstanding active-duty chaplain assistant senior NCO in the U.S. Air Force Chaplain Corps.

This award honors the late Chief Master Sgt. Gerrald Cullins, the first Chaplain Assistant Career Field Manager of the Air Force. The winner is selected based on leadership, job performance, significant self-improvement and base or community involvement.

In response to how he felt upon receiving in the award, Sergeant Watson said, "Individual awards are really team awards. You generally cannot be personally
successful without quality team members."

"You are only as good as your team," he added.

Sergeant Watson said most of his significant accomplishments as a chaplain's assistant occurred while deployed. He has deployed to locations in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Diego Garcia.

He added that these experiences have helped him stand out among his peers and are among his fondest career memories.

"Being deployed as a chaplain assistant has been the most rewarding experience," he said. "On deployments you can really see and feel the impact you make as a chaplain assistant. For example, while I was deployed, a warrior came into the chapel with his weapon. I discovered that he was having thoughts of suicide, and he voluntarily gave me his weapon. I got him to the hospital where he found the help he needed. That day I probably saved a life."

Sergeant Watson began his Air Force career in 1992 in the supply career field, serving at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas; Misawa Air Base, Japan; Ft. Drum, N.Y.; Kunsan AB, Korea; Robins AFB, Ga.; and MacDill AFB, Fla.

When given the opportunity to cross train out of the supply career field, Sergeant Watson chose the chaplain assistant career field. He said he felt this opportunity would give him the ability to impact lives and more directly support Air Force warriors.

As superintendent of chapel operations at Warren, Sergeant Watson inspects and evaluates all administrative, financial, readiness and religious program support functions of the chapel.