USA: Navy Region Southeast Announces 2012 SoY

Region Southeast (NRSE) announced its 2012 Sailor of the Year for during a ceremony aboard Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville Nov. 28.

Air Traffic Controlman (AC) 1st Class (AW/SW) Sara Bailey, of Naval Air Station (NAS) Joint Reserve Base (JRB) New Orleans is this year’s recipient.

The ceremony was the culmination of NRSE Sailor of the Year Week, during which five finalists selected from the region’s 16 installations were invited to Jacksonville, Fla., to compete for the honor of Sailor of the Year and to participate in a series of recreational activities. During the week, the Sailors toured EverBank Field, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and visited St. John’s Town Center.

“All of our candidates for Sailor of the Year were outstanding Sailors and role models,” said NRSE Command Master Chief (AW/SW) Mack Ellis. “What made AC1 stand out was her sustained performance of duties – primary as well as collateral. She is always ready to take on more challenging assignments.”

According to Bailey, it was an honor to receive such a prestigious award.

“It’s really incredible. It was a real shock to hear my name called because the rest of these Sailors here are all great examples of what a first class petty officer should be,” she said.

She also stressed that she could never have made it this far by herself.

“I’m in the position I’m in today because of my Sailors and everything they’ve done. Honestly, they’re really the ones that deserve the recognition,” she said.

In addition to Bailey, the top five also included Personnel Specialist 1st Class (AW/SW) Nathaniel Ndikum of NAS JRB Fort Worth; Ship’s Serviceman 1st Class (SW) Danielle Bradford of Transient Personnel Unit NAS Jacksonville; Master-at-Arms 1st Class (SW/AW) Jessica Brown of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay; and Master-at-Arms 1st Class Adam Turner of NAS Whiting Field.

Each Sailor was accompanied by a sponsor, who was either his or her command master chief or command senior chief. According to Ndikum, the time spent with their senior leaders was one of the most rewarding experiences of the competition.

“It’s a really unique experience to have this many master chiefs in the same place at the same time,” said Ndikum. “They’ve offered a lot of encouragement. It’s also great to be with all of these great Sailors, too. The entire experience has been good. It provides a lot of motivation for us to take what we learned here back to our commands and continue to make our Sailors better.”

According to Bailey, the candidates were extremely nervous the day of the selection board, but the most successful approach was to be candid when answering questions.

“I went in there and just spoke the truth. If I didn’t know the answer to a question, I didn’t try to hide it. I just spoke from the heart and hoped for the best, and that approach apparently worked for me in the end,” she said.

While the board could only select one Sailor of the Year, all of the candidates should be extremely proud to have made it as far as they did, according to Ellis.

“It is truly a great accomplishment,” he said. “To get from our deckplates to this competition, that’s absolutely a great accomplishment.”

Bailey will go on to compete against Sailors from other regions for the honor of Commander, Naval Installations Command Sailor of the Year. The selectee from that competition will go on to compete for Chief of Naval Operations Sailor of the Year.

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Naval Today Staff, December 3, 2012; Image: EPA