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Air Force Skills Helped Max Angwenyi Land at Oncor

Andy Morgan

11.05.2019


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Max Angwenyi credits the U.S. Air Force for not only giving him the skills to earn a job at Oncor, but also for helping him keep it.

An airman for eight years, Max maintained the diesel generators that provide power to military outposts. And after serving tours in Iraq and Kuwait, he also learned how to stay calm in tense situations.

“When you’re there, especially in Iraq during the early stages of the war, you’re seriously hoping to come back home alive. It certainly puts things in perspective,” said Max, an account manager at Oncor’s Midland, Texas office. “Here, people can get all stressed out about an issue at work, but I can look at it from a different angle. Everything is relative.”

Max’s route to the U.S. military wasn’t typical. A native of Kenya, he came to the U.S. in 1996 for college at age 17.

But after the 9/11 tragedy and America invaded Iraq in 2003, Max decided to do his part for his adopted country. “I did it because the country needed people to join,” he said. “I thought, ‘This is a good time for me to raise my hand.’ ”

After basic training, Max studied generators and power systems at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls. After a stint in northern California, he was shipped to Germany and deployed twice to the Middle East during the Iraq War.

“On my first deployment in Iraq, that’s when the stuff was really popping. It was Fourth of July everywhere.”

While Max wasn’t in combat, he battled other challenges. On Christmas Day 2005, a downpour flooded his camp in Nasiriyah, Iraq.

“It started raining and the water was waist high,” Max said. “We were working around the clock to find places to move our generators to get them out of the water. That Christmas, I don’t think I slept a wink for 24 hours, maybe longer.”

Max recently transitioned from Dallas to Midland for Oncor, while preparing for the birth of his third child. And while he left active military duty in 2012, he continues to serve in the Air Force Reserve.

“The Air Force gave me the opportunity to earn an MBA, get some specialized training and travel. They did a good job,” Max said. “And I really appreciate Oncor’s support of me as a reservist and giving me time to continue doing that.”