The Space and Missile Systems Center proudly recognizes Col. Arnold H. Streland, director, Space Superiority Systems Directorate, as this year’s award recipient of the National Space Club’s General Bernard A. Schriever Award.
NSC honored Streland with this award for his “excellence in military space operations and acquisition.” The panel of experts from across the aerospace and defense industry selected him for leading SY “with exceptional leadership, (blazing) revolutionary paths in space acquisition, and (delivering) space superiority capabilities that enhanced the war fighters’ ability to utilize national space assets with accuracy and precision,” according to NSC’s award recipient announcement March 6.
Streland provided unparalleled capabilities to protect the United States’ asymmetric advantages in space and deliver on urgent threat war fighter requirements. “It’s an honor, and I’m humbled to be recognized for the Schriever Award that honors the father of the Air Force’s missile and space programs,” said Streland. “Every day, space systems provide capabilities to the warfighter, and I get to play a part in delivering these vital capabilities to our war fighters so they can do their jobs. The best thing I had hoped for during my Air Force career was to become a space program director and have the ability to help the war fighters – but this award is beyond that – it’s amazing.”
Streland plans to retire after 26 years of Air Force service August 2012. He compares his Air Force career with that of John Elway’s career in football: “Space acquisition was my whole career, and I loved my job. As a civilian, I look forward to continuing to do what I love, and that is space acquisitions. John Elway loved his job, was awarded the Super Bowl MVP trophy, and then he retired. I became a (System Program Office) director, a recipient of the General Schriever Award, and now I can retire.”
NSC’s General Schriever award was created in 2009 and patterned after the Schriever Fellowship Award established by the Air Force Association in 2000. The award honors General Schriever and other leaders who, like General Schriever, have created an Air Force space program that is second to none in the world. General Schriever, regarded by most historians as the father of the Air Force’s missile and space program, gave his all to the space race and, through his personal example and leadership, inspired generations of military leaders as well as their civilian counterparts.
Streland will receive the award at NSC’s 55th Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner in Washington, D.C., March 30.
Congratulations to Streland for his outstanding Air Force career and receiving the General Bernard A. Schriever Award.
