The man behind the PACAF CGO Maintenance Professional of the Year award

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Collette Brooks
  • 35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

Family man. Musician. Intelligent. Witty. Considerate. Confident. These are just a few words that family and friends of the 2017 Pacific Air Forces Company Grade Officer Maintenance Professional of the Year used to describe the individual. This award highlights an Airman within the maintenance field who has shown outstanding job performance and dedication to their craft.

The award recipient, U.S. Air Force Capt. Charles Glover, the 35th Maintenance Squadron Operations officer, flashes a grin when asked to speak of his hometown, Warner Robins, Georgia. Glover credits his current success to the military influences that surrounded him during childhood.

“I am a fourth generation aircraft maintainer,” said Glover. “My father and grandfather were both Air Force crew chiefs that maintained McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and North American F-86 Sabre aircraft. My grandfather and great-grandfather retired from Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, civil service, each working 35 years in aircraft depot maintenance.”

This inspiration from his family gave way to Glover starting his maintenance journey while in high school.

“I took aviation maintenance technology through the Youth Apprenticeship Program while in high school” explained Glover. “That program gave me the opportunity to assist aircraft maintainers at Robins AFB during the summer. At 19 years old, I buckled down and earned my Federal Aviation Administration Airframe and Powerplant license. I then applied to Robins AFB and was hired to work on Boeing C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. This employment offered civilian tuition assistance, so I completed my undergraduate degree by taking a full load of night classes. A year out from completing my degree, I applied for Officer Training school with Brig. Gen. Mark Atkinson’s endorsement who was the 402 Maintenance Wing Commander at the time. The rest is history.”

While Glover put in the hard work and effort to make his goals become a reality, he credits his work ethic and personal drive to his mother.

“My mom was definitely the rock of the family,” explained Glover. “She enrolled me into night classes at a local technical college prior to my time at the YAP program. She paid for me to attend out of pocket. I know as a single parent that couldn’t have been an easy task. She always urged me to stay active and involved in our community. I was kept busy with church choir, playing music and sports.”

Although Glover was raised with an abundant amount of support from his family, that didn’t keep him from experiencing personal challenges that he had to overcome.

“Since I’m an introvert, I know I can appear timid or shy,” explained Glover. “Public speaking has always been nerve wracking for me, but in order to perform my job efficiently, I had to overcome that struggle. The only way to conquer your fear is to practice what you fear because practice makes perfect.”

Conquering this challenge not only gave way to allowing Glover to maximize his capabilities at work, but was also a teaching moment for his children to understand that overcoming difficult obstacles is possible. While Glover wears a variety of hats in his personal and professional life, his favorite cap to sport is being a father.


Not only does Glover’s expression shift to a wide smile when he begins to talk about his children, his tone elevates and the love for his daughters is transparent through each passing word.

“Everything I do, I do for them,” expressed Glover. “I have a one-, three- and nine-year-old. They are the ones who truly motivate me to keep working as hard as I do. My family is everything to me.”

Glover’s wife also commented on their family dynamic.

“I can always rely on my husband to take care of me, our children and the household,” said Karen Glover, a 35th Medical Group nurse case manager. “His years of experience give him the ability to be a good, focused leader. I am extremely proud of my husband for winning this award, and he absolutely deserves it. He asks for so little, yet gives so much to our family in return. My favorite thing about him is that he finds joy in the simple things in life, like listening to and playing jazz music.”

Glover doesn’t miss a beat when acknowledging that receiving the 2017 PACAF CGO MPOY award wouldn’t have been possible without his team.

“Receiving this award is truly humbling,” explained Glover. “I advocate and upchannel requirements to leadership, so I am able to give our maintainers the time, tooling and any other support needed for mission success. I sincerely care about my Airmen and admire their dedication and loyalty to their craft. Yes, the award has my name on it, but I had nothing to do with the work; I give all the credit and praise to the maintainers. This honor is actually an acknowledgement of my squadron’s accomplishments, not mine.”