FORT WORTH, Texas –
My DCMA showcases the Defense Contract Management Agency’s experienced and diverse workforce and highlights what being a part of the national defense team means to them. Today, Steven Powell shares his story.
My name is Steven Powell, and this is “My DCMA.”
I am a quality assurance specialist at DCMA Lockheed Martin Fort Worth in Texas. My job duties include working with a diverse team of QAS’s performing oversight for the F-35 Lightning II program manufacturing and production lines. We perform quality data analysis, evaluation, process reviews and product examinations on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. We are the government’s eyes and ears ensuring our warfighters receive the best platforms needed to defend our great nation.
I work with a great team. Our team members have a lot in common, and we have a sense of comradery. We ensure quality F-35 aircraft are sent to our warfighters, and we take great pride in doing so. One of the great things about working at my location includes building better relationships internally within DCMA and externally with our defense contractors.
I have been a part of the DCMA team for more than four years. I started my DCMA career as an industrial specialist supporting the KC-10 Extender aircraft depot inspections and maintenance located in Greensboro, North Carolina.
I like working at DCMA because I can continue to serve my country while working in a field that is similar to what I did during my 25-year Air Force career maintaining F-16CJ Fighting Falcon, F-15E Eagle and F-117 Nighthawk fighter aircraft.
DCMA is important to America’s warfighters because as a former warfighter myself, I know what it’s like to deal with the different systems and missions assigned to fighter aircraft in the field. We must take pride and have confidence that we are putting the best platforms in the field for our warfighters who defend our country for our freedom.
DCMA has changed over the years. One of the biggest changes was centered on adjusting to the pandemic requirements. The transition from instructions to manuals provided new processes of how QAS’s conduct business.
DCMA has been around for more than two decades. I am excited that I get to help shape tomorrow’s future by training those newly assigned to the agency and make positive changes affecting the future workforce and mission requirements. That is a huge responsibility. Twenty years ago, I was in the Air Force assigned to the 14th Fighter Squadron at Misawa Air Base Japan, maintaining F-16CJ aircraft as a specialist expediter and avionics technician.
My future career goals include continuing to work hard on my job and help my team provide quality F-35 aircraft to our warfighters. I want to continue to excel with my teammates and strive to do the best I can on a daily basis.
My favorite hobbies include spending time with my family, especially my grandkids, volunteering weekly at my church’s food bank by distributing food boxes, and completing landscaping and gardening projects.
Something unique about me is that in 2014 within two weeks after completing my Airframe and Powerplant Certification to work on aircraft, I accepted a position to manage locomotive maintenance repair for the railroad industry for more than three years. After that period, I returned to a career in aviation maintenance.