A U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command employee has received a top honor given annually to recognize innovation, leadership and dedication to the mission.
Robert Tillery, Aviation Center Logistics Command Aviation Maintenance Division chief, is one of 10 employees who received the Louis Dellamonica Award for Outstanding U.S. Army Materiel Command Personnel of the Year.
“The Dellamonica Award signifies the best of the best; and Rob Tillery is just that,” said AMCOM Commander Maj. Gen. Todd Royar.
The award’s namesake is 2009 Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame Inductee Louis Dellamonica, an engineer whose outstanding career only ended upon his retirement at age 94 after more than 65 years of service at Hawthorne Army Depot, Nevada.
Tillery, a supervisory logistics management specialist and retired Soldier, learned of his nomination through LinkedIn, of all places, before hearing it from the ACLC deputy.
Among other things, Tillery was recognized for leading AMCOM’s maintenance and logistics management and providing innovative customer-focused solutions that set the conditions for enduring success across AMC’s Fleet Management Expansion.
“I had personnel ask me for information on accomplishments, so I figured I was being submitted for something – did not know it was for the Dellamonica Award,” he recalled. “It made me feel proud of what my division is doing and that we are making a difference within the organization. I thought it was amazing and made all the hard work put into what we have done well worth it!”
ACLC Deputy Tildon Kye Allen said Tillery’s leadership and actions by his team directly impacted training experiences of Army pilots and Soldiers around the country. “Through his and his team’s actions, they ensured each Soldier received the best training available, ensuring our Soldiers are prepared to defend our nation on the systems they were trained to operate.”
The AMCOM CG said, “His work in supporting the training bases at Fort Rucker, [Alabama}; Fort Sill, [Oklahoma]; and Fort Huachuca, [Arizona]; by providing Soldiers [with] mission-capable equipment to learn on is critical to sustaining our Army. His personal efforts and leadership make a difference every day.”
The mission Tillery and his team undertake daily is complex and wide-ranging.
“We create new partnerships/teaming arrangements to ensure collaboration and break down communication barriers to meet the mission requirements,” he explained, adding that quality of service and personnel safety are not waived for performance metrics. “I have a lot of dedicated professionals that work hard every day ensuring the safety of the U.S. Army future pilots.”
Tillery said he is the chief of what he calls a “dynamic division”. Responsibilities of the ACLC Aviation Maintenance Division include oversight of maintenance for over 550 aircraft, 40 maintenance trainers (aircraft used for ground instruction or technical training) and 15 Shadow unmanned aerial vehicles. Over the last few years, the division was responsible for the divesting of Fort Rucker’s TH-67 Creek helicopters and replacing the fleet with over 200 UH-72A Lakotas, as well as the conversion from the CH-47D to the CH-47F Chinook aircraft.
“Every day we focus on ensuring safe and flyable aircraft to produce future Army aviators which eventually support warfighters as we are fighting and winning our nation’s wars,” Tillery said.
“Maintenance and logistics is relatively complex when you are working so many different agencies and contracts, it takes very good leadership to ensure everyone is focused on mission accomplishment,” Allen said. “Through Mr. Tillery’s leadership, the enterprise has been very successful with ensuring equipment readiness is keeping up with school house demands to train our Army’s Soldiers.”
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