Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center Announces 2012 Sailor of the Year

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (NNS) -- The Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center (NMCPHC) announced today the selection of its Sailor of the Year (SOY) for 2012.

Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Ceara Sazon, Leading Petty Officer for the Navy Environmental Preventive Medicine Unit Five (NEPMU-5), San Diego, was selected as the 2012 SOY from a field of candidates throughout NMCPHC's headquarters and nine field activities.

The candidates were interviewed by a panel of master chief petty officers from NMCPHC and Naval Medical Center Portsmouth.

According to Master Chief Hospital Corpsman Robert Searles, NMCPHC Command Master Chief, selecting the 2012 NMCPHC SOY was no easy task.

"Each of the candidates brought leadership and professionalism that reflected not only last year's achievements, but a career of solid accomplishment," said Searles.

Petty Officer Sazon will represent NMCPHC in the competition for the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery's Navy Medicine 2012 Sailor of the Year.

"We are very proud of HM1 Sazon as NMCPHC's selection for our Sailor of the Year," said Capt. Michael Macinski, NMCPHC Commanding Officer. "She was selected from a very competitive group of highly motivated sailors from our Command, which is a tribute to not only her technical skills but her devotion to duty and leadership she shows every day."

As Leading Petty Officer (LPO), Petty Officer Sazon manages the daily operations of her department, ranging from administration to preventive medicine support for Fleet customers.

"What I find most rewarding in my job and in the Navy is to see the growth and development of Sailors," said Sazon. "I am highly motivated to pass on to Sailors the positive mentorship and traits I have learned from my mentors and leaders."

Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman Jesse Moreno, NEPMU-5 Senior Enlisted Leader, values the leadership and commitment to excellence that Petty Officer Sazon provides on a daily basis.

"There is a saying that goes, 'What a man believes determines how he lives, and how he lives reveals most clearly what he believes regardless of what he says!' What HM1 Sazon believes is demonstrated daily with the success of her Sailors and command," said Moreno. "It has been exciting to watch her train the future of our Navy."

Sazon, who enlisted in 1993, also serves as the command career counselor and leader of the career development team. As such, she is directly responsible for the career development of 41 enlisted Sailors, working daily to increase professional knowledge of all unit personnel by conducting career enhancing courses and offering opportunities to further Sailor's goals.

According to Cmdr. Jason Spillman, NEPMU-5 Officer-in-Charge, Petty Officer Sazon clearly demonstrates "ship, shipmate, and self".

"She understands her role in this formula," said Spillman. "She is dedicated to the mission, always encourages her shipmates to go above and beyond what they think they are capable of, and she sets the highest standards for herself and sets an example for others to emulate."

Sazon plans to request sea duty following the completion of her tour with NEPMU-5 in November 2014.

"We see great things to come for Petty Officer Sazon," said Searles.

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