REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala.-- The year was 1983, and a freshly-minted George Mason University graduate named Bobby Turzak found himself as a GS-3 clerk typist at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
"This seemed like the easiest way to get into federal service at the time. By happenstance, it was in the Civilian Personnel Office," said Turzak, who retired Sept. 30, the last day of the fiscal year, as the Army Materiel Command's deputy chief of staff, G-8, after 32 years of federal service.
Fourteen of those years were with AMC.
It turned out to be a lucky -- and smart -- move, and he steadily moved up the ladder. In 1984, as one of four GS-5 interns at the Army Manpower Requirements and Documentation Agency, Turzak remembers a conversation that foreshadowed what was to come.
"Two of us said, 'Someday, we're going to be SESs (Senior Executive Service) leaders and we're going to rule the world,' and we'd laugh about it. Two of the original interns are now Army Command G-8s, and there are only three Army ACOMs," he said.
Turzak was promoted to SES in 2004.
"It's really been an honor and a privilege to be a senior civilian leader for the Army. I'm blessed to not only work for the Army, but specifically in logistics. AMC and logistics are the key to success in the Army … we really are a team here," he said.
But Turzak said it wasn't just a bunch of talk from a group of hard-working young people. He shares the credit with a variety of people he thanked by name during his retirement ceremony speech Sept. 28.
"So, the best thing about retirement ceremonies is, generally other people talk about your career accomplishments, and you can read about them in the program," Turzak said during his retirement ceremony. "So I can stand up here and talk about other people: those who influenced me and made a difference in who I am today."
Turzak thanked his wife of 26 years, their daughter and his parents, both of whom worked for the Department of the Army, before talking about the leaders he'd worked with over the years.
"I had lots of mentors; a lot of great leaders. I've worked for three great Army G-4s and seven commanders here at AMC, all of whom are great leaders and have different attributes," he said.
Turzak's leaders feel the same. During his retirement ceremony, AMC Commander Gen. Dennis Via presented Turzak the Department of the Army Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service, signed by Secretary of the Army John McHugh, as well as the Award for Outstanding Service in the Army SES, the DA Certificate of Retirement, a DA certificate of appreciation and more.
"Budget reductions, hiring freezes, furloughs and sequestration are road blocks for some, but they're merely bumps in the road for Bobby Turzak," Via said. "His focus always remained on critical support for AMC. Very few people enjoy working budgets, but nobody does them better than he does."
Via credits Turzak's overall budget philosophy for maintaining focus on the Soldiers and the overall critical support for AMC. "He's always working to say 'yes,' but he's prepared to say 'no.' To quote the Rolling Stones, 'You can't always get what you want, but you get what you need,'" Via said.
Turzak said it's leaders like Via, who recognize what it takes to run a successful G-8, who helped teach him the number one ingredient for leadership success: treat people right.
With 130 employees under his wing, Turzak said he has learned how to lead and manage a workforce, and how to help the workforce through mentoring and training.
And AMC is the right place for that, said Turzak, who returned to Huntsville in 2011 after seven years at the Pentagon. "I got to come back to AMC; I got to come home. AMC is a great place to be. It's what we do for the Soldiers that makes it so great; providing funding to sustain readiness is very important," he said.
Turzak's assignments included Fort Belvoir and Alexandria, Virginia, as well as three years in the resource management and the desk operations planning cell at headquarters U.S. Army Europe, at the time located in Heidelberg, Germany.
"Those were busy times: the Berlin Wall fell, and we supported Operations Desert Shield and Storm. Best of all, we had many great trips throughout Europe," Turzak said.
Heidelberg is Turzak's favorite duty station, with Huntsville a close second. But it's the memory of a trip as the AMC G-8 that Turzak counts as the highlight of his career.
In March 2014, Turzak accompanied AMC leadership to Kuwait, Qatar and Afghanistan. "I got to see firsthand the amazing work the AMC military, DA civilians and contractors are doing to support the warfighters."
Seeing his hard work and that of his team come full-circle resonated with Turzak.
"The past 14 years of war have demonstrated the importance of strategic, operational and tactical logistical planning and execution. That's what AMC does, and the best compliment I have heard from the commanders is, 'I don't worry about logistics because I know AMC is there.'"
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