JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – Two members of the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center are recipients of 2022 Air Force Civil Engineer awards for significant contributions both Airmen made to their respective professions.
Col. Robert Bartlow, chief of the Natural Disaster Recovery Division (NDR) at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, was awarded the 2022 Society of American Military Engineers Newman Medal. Named in honor of Air Force Brig. Gen. James B. Newman Jr., the medal is awarded annually to the person with the most outstanding contribution to military engineering.
Master Sgt. Bradley Taylor, manager of joint explosive ordnance disposal logistics and requirements at Indian Head, Maryland, is the 2022 EOD Master Blaster of the Year Award winner. The award recognizes an outstanding Air Force active-duty EOD member for his or her achievements and contributions to the unit, base, command and U.S. Air Force EOD program.
Bartlow and Taylor are assigned to the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, one of four AFIMSC primary subordinate units.
Col. Robert Bartlow
As 8th Mission Support Group commander at Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea, Bartlow developed and launched Pacific Air Forces’ largest airfield repair program, synchronizing the work so all 43 projects would be complete within 90-days. While there, he also engineered an energy program that saved $58 million.
At Tyndall, Bartlow successfully integrated three pre-existing programs into the first-ever NDR Division. The division supports natural disaster recovery efforts that might affect Air Force installations, as well as the Tyndall rebuild effort. As chief of the division, he created today’s Air Force engineer response operations, implanting a tailored national disaster recovery support for prioritizing Defense Department climate crisis.
“What motivates me in this position is the mission and the people,” Bartlow said. “Simply put, the NDR Division has the most professional, dedicated and accomplished team I've ever work with,” Bartlow said. “Since joining this division last July, I've had to work extremely hard to keep up with this team so that I can help enable their success and not impede progress.
“It's easy to get overwhelmed with the scope of our program, but this team continues to deliver successfully and this award is a reflection of that success,” he said.
MSgt. Bradley Taylor
As manager of a joint logistics and readiness program, Taylor’s accomplishments impacted all levels of the EOD community. He chaired the joint equipment committee that helped standardize EOD functions and equipment across the Defense Department and led the EOD readiness program.
Managing a $250 million portfolio with 259 units to support also led to his winning the Air Force Associations Citation of Honor. His deployment of 10 Defense Threat Reduction Agency tools solved UXO challenges that significantly closed threat gaps for the EOD community, including NATO.
Taylor also led a joint digital ecosystem program that developed battlefield requirements, organized evaluations for the four services and established strategic technical planning. His expertise led to adaptive solutions that linked the U.S. Navy’s directed energy system and the Air Force’s Recovery of Airbases Denied by Ordnance Program. Both are used to clear bases of enemy ordnance without risking the lives of EOD technicians.
“My motivation has always been to improve our force and our sister services. Whether that is drafting technology requirements, creating multi-service capabilities development documents, or updating policy narratives, I want to leverage my time left to improve EOD programs across all services,” Taylor said.