COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Army Contracting Command, Headquarters 409th Contracting Support Brigade
TITLE: Contract specialist
ACQUISITION CAREER FIELD: Series 1102
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 10
YEARS OF MILITARY SERVICE: 23
ACQUISITION CERTIFICATIONS: Level II in contracting; Level I in contracting and program management
EDUCATION: M.A. in human resource management, Webster University; M.A. in procurement and acquisition management, Webster University; B.S. in business management studies, University of Maryland

Stephen B. Fuller

by Cheryl Marino

Choices made today will affect the future, so choose wisely—then pass the experience and knowledge along to someone else so that they can make better life choices too.

This is the advice that Stephen Fuller said he would give to anyone in or outside of work, especially junior acquisition personnel. “The choices we make today—positive or negative—will decide your success or failures for years after the decision,” he said. “I coined this phrase as a United States Army recruiter when I counseled young men and women on career development. My mentorship abilities began early in my career, and to see these men and women join the Army under my influence, was my most outstanding achievement.”

“My greatest satisfaction is being part of an ‘organized’ team that supports each other in achieving its mission and organizational success,” he said. “Additionally, I enjoy sharing my professional and personal knowledge with Soldiers and civilians entering the Army Acquisition Workforce. To hear a ‘thank you’ or see the smile on their face is the best feeling ever.”

But according to Fuller, becoming a member of the AAW did not come easily. “Before I retired from the Army, a colleague had informed me of the acquisition program. I began applying to the program in 2011, and finally became part of the Army Acquisition Workforce in 2018, after countless times submitting my resume on USA Jobs,” he said. “I believe I was selected when another candidate declined a position in Grafenwohr, Germany—it goes to show the competitiveness of the AAW program.”

Fuller said the most important lesson he’s learned is that contracting changes daily, and one should always be learning and improving. “Forget the process ‘you’ have learned at your last duty station—when PCSing, learn your gaining unit processes,” he said. Military PCSing or permanent change of station (PCS) is the assignment, detail or transfer of a member or unit to a different duty station (under orders) without specification of the duty as temporary, and without assignment to a new station, or direction to return to the old station. “I apply it at work by supporting my leaders and contracting officer every day.”