Two Sailors and an airman were recognized as the 2017 Commander, U.S. Naval Activities Spain (COMNAVACTS) Service Members of the Year (SMOY) during a ceremony March 28.

Master Sgt. Jonathan Hollenbeck, assigned to 725th Air Mobility Squadron, was distinguished as the 2017 Senior Enlisted Leader of the Year among two other nominees; Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Handling) 1st Class Evan Pinkston, assigned to Naval Station Rota Air Operations Department, was selected among 11 others as the 2017 Senior SMOY; and Logistics Specialist 3rd Class Anndrea Rice, assigned to Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78), was selected among five other nominees as the 2017 Junior SMOY.

"Being forward deployed, it's really hard to try to be active in a lot of stuff," said Rice, "but I think in the end all the hard work pays off trying to be involved as much as possible. I'm honored to represent the Porter and all the other ships forward deployed Rota."

This is the fifth year that COMNAVACT Spain has given out this award, which is open to Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen and Marines. The award is designed to recognize the best all-around service members assigned to the installation and the National Support Elements in Madrid, Valencia and Lisbon who excel in performance, leadership, community involvement and personal and military appearance.

"Every single nominee made it incredibly hard to select a winner," said Capt. Michael MacNicholl, COMNAVACTS and Naval Station Rota commanding officer. "This is pretty significant because there's a lot of different missions that occur within Team Rota and each of these members had an impact outside of their command. Not only were they good leaders within their command but they also participated in mission readiness in some other fashion."

Service members were nominated within their commands and then again reviewed and selected among a pool of total nominations submitted with a write-up. The selected were then individually tested on a broad range of topics in front of a board of senior enlisted leaders for all services and various commands throughout the base.

"They should be taking care of their primary responsibilities with their jobs," said Command Master Chief Michelle Brooks. "Be out. Be involved. Get involved with the base organizations and do the volunteer work. It's a command but it's also a community."

Naval Station Rota enables and supports operations of U.S. and allied forces and provides quality services in support of the fleet, fighter and family for Commander, Navy Installations Command in Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia (EURAFSWA).

Just as a ship performs lines of operation that provide a capability, Navy Region EURAFSWA bases perform the same eight lines of operation to provide capability to the fleet and joint and allied forces. These eight lines of operation are: air operations, port operations, safety, security, MWR, Fleet and Family Services and what is called the core; the fuels, water and power that keep the bases running. Through our lines of operation, our installations are force multipliers that maximize the combat capability of operational units.

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