JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. - Senior Master Sgt. Mark E. Farmer was chosen as the Air National Guard's Outstanding Senior Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year, and one of the Air Force's 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year.
Farmer, a space systems operations superintendent with the 114th Space Control Squadron, Florida Air National Guard, was selected from the thousands of enlisted ANG Airmen for the honor. Farmer was chosen for his overwhelming commitment to mission accomplishment and to his people.
When looking over his more than 18 years in uniform, Farmer doesn't speak about a list of places or duties, he tells stories of people he worked with and who influenced him. He is thankful for the many different mentors he's had during his career who gave him the tools and experience to succeed.
"There have been so many people, from when I was an Airman all the way to senior master sergeant, who have touched my life in great ways," said Farmer. "It's an inspiration because it makes me realize that I always have room to mentor others and pour into others to help develop and push them to be the very best that they can be - because that's what people did for me along the way."
"It's about servant leadership," he said. "If you desire to be a leader, you must put people in front of yourself. I try to keep that at the forefront of my mind. The stripes on my sleeve or my position don't matter; I'm here to serve."
Prior to joining the Air National Guard, Farmer spent 10 years in the Air Force active component.
"The training I received as an enlisted professional military education instructor at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, was amazing," Farmer said. "It helped me grow as an NCO more than anything that I've ever been a part of. It's one of the largest PME schools in the Air Force, and that can be intimidating. I was a young staff sergeant in there with Airmen who expected me to have all the answers. But it really helped me in every aspect of my military career, so I credit a lot of my growth to that."
"When I was a little A1C, they were looking to fill a billet up at Thule Air Base, Greenland," Farmer said. "So I raised my hand and off I went. You hear the horror stories about Thule, but it was one of the best assignments of my career, because it's the people who make the assignment great. I know that if I can make Thule Air Base one of my favorite assignments, then the average Airman can make any assignment great."
Developing his people for greater success isn't just something that Farmer does on his own, he's looking to spark that same desire in everyone around him.
"When you develop people, there's a good and a bad way to be infectious," he said. "I think we need to be infectious in positive way because that's how you motivate people. And I love motivating people, pushing them to be their best. I love being there if they need help to get to their next level."
"That's my UTA, actually - I normally don't touch my own tasks or anything I need to get done; it must be about our drill status guardsmen during those two days," he said. "You're there for a reason as a full-timer: to support your traditional members and I take that very seriously. I can only imagine the difficulty of being a civilian and having to stop what you're doing, plug into being in the military for two days, then unplug and go back to your civilian job."
For Farmer, being committed to his people starts with those people closest to him: his family.
"My wife has been my rock," Farmer said. "She believes in me, she supports me. There's a lot of times when she takes care of the boys, she's holding down the fort and doing an amazing job. The long hours, the TDYs, the deployments. There is no way that any of this would be possible without her. She deserves it just as much as I do."
"Here's the thing about this award - it's not a Mark Farmer award. It's an ANG award. It's a 125th Fighter Wing award. It's the 125th Operations Group award. It's the 114th Space Control Squadron award. My wife also shares in them, because none of this would be possible without her."
When it's time to unwind, Farmer hits the water or the links.
"Probably the thing I like to do most is swim," said Farmer. "I grew up on the river in Tennessee swimming as a little kid, so it's kind of like my exercise release to go swim laps. I'm also a golfer. Florida's got a lot of beautiful courses."
But his true passion is music, and Farmer has made it a family affair.
"We talk about resiliency, and the musical arts and singing are my great stress reliever," Farmer said. "Sometimes I'll get on piano and start singing and playing and get lost in it. My wife's way better than me, she's like Mozart compared to me. She taught me everything I know on keys. I actually met my wife at church in Germany. I walked in and saw her playing piano and singing."
"I love music, coming up even as a child I was always singing," he said. "I use my musical talents more for my church now. I'm the head worship leader there, and my wife and I lead worship together once to twice a month. Normally, we do five songs every service right before the sermon. We talk about resiliency to turn to when times get rough and being physically, mentally and spiritually well so I encourage people to find what their faith is, and what their spiritual life looks life."
Living their faith is the key to the Farmer family's spiritual resiliency. He calls it the foundation of his life, and draws his character from it.
Character is everything," said Farmer. "It's the foundational part of who you are. A lot of people in my squadron are hearing me walking around saying 'Be Intentional.' Those are my two big words that I'm living by right now."
"What I mean by that is that people talk a lot," he said. "We say things like 'it would be nice to do that, or someone should do that thing.' We say it, but we don't actually go do it - and I'm guilty of it too. So I got to the point where I was sick of that, and I said from now on, I'm going to be intentional. I'm not going to let my fear or whatever reservations I have keep me from that. So I've applied that to my career in the military, and every facet of my life at home too."