Four freshly advanced chief-selects are heading to Washington, D.C., the week of May 11 to be honored at the Navy Memorial as the service's official sailors of the year.
They'll also take a tour of the capital's sights, visit top brass at the Pentagon and enjoy some time away with their families.
"It's pretty exciting because my wife and my mom and dad are going to be able to come out and share the experience with me, which is sort of rare," said Steelworker Construction Mechanic 1st Class (chief-select) (SCW) Brenton Heisserer. "They don't get to share deployments with you, they can't do your job with you, so you don't get to share a lot of what actually happens or what you actually do."
And to make things even sweeter, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jon Greenert will present them with their chief petty officer appointment letters during a May 14 pinning ceremony.
These are the honorees:
Construction Mechanic 1st Class Jimie Bartholomew was chosen as the U.S. Navy Reserve Sailor of the Year.
Photo Credit: Navy
Name: Construction Mechanic 1st Class (chief select) (SCW/EXW) Jimie Bartholomew
Hometown: Columbus, Nebraska
Command: Naval Reserve Operations Support Center 1362
Award: Naval Reserve Sailor of the Year
Bartholomew, 44, joined the Navy in 1990 for the same reason a lot of young men and women do: to see the world.
"There's nothing wrong with small-town Nebraska, but when you're a young kid you want to see all of the places you read about in the books, see something besides cornfields and cows," he said.
He said the award is largely for the work he did on his last deployment to Afghanistan, but he's just as proud ofas the sailors who went with him.
"We had two guys that we got [command advanced]. It's always nice to see the guys that you mentored or guys that work for you get advanced," he said. "Them getting their warfare devices, it's a proud moment to watch those guys."
Bartholomew said hHis kids are most looking forward to the visit to the nation's capital, he said, but he D.C., and he hopes to see one particularly special monument.
"Three of the four of us are in a naval construction force, so maybe we can guide the tour over to the Seabee Memorial there," he said.
Logistics Specialist 1st Class Blanca Sanchez was selected as the U.S. Pacific Fleet Sailor of the Year.
Photo Credit: Navy
Name: Logistics Specialist 1st Class (chief select) (SCW/EXW/AW/SW) Blanca Sanchez
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Command: Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4
Award: Pacific Fleet Sea Sailor of the Year
Sanchez, 32, said she joined the Navy because she wanted to do something other than work in a restaurant, the family business.
She said she knew she was doing something right when, a few years later, when an E-1 asked her to be his mentor.
"And I was an E-5. I said, 'Why?' And he said, 'You're pretty much the E-5 that I want to become,' " she recalled.
Her advice to junior sailors is to focus on their jobs and not expect recognition. For her part, Sanchez gave herself a goal of earning every warfare device she could — today she has four.
She added that she's excited to bring her mom to Washington to see the hard work pay off.
"This is going to be her opportunity to actually see a ceremony and to see what the good side of the Navy can give us," she said, "not just what they see in the newspapers. To see what the Navy's about, see what normal people like us can accomplish by doing hard work."
Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Joe Mendoza was selected as the U.S. Fleet Forces Sea Sailor of the Year.
Photo Credit: Navy
Name: Boatswain's Mate 1st Class (chief select) (SW/EXW) Joe Mendoza
Hometown: Brownsville, Texas
Command: Coastal Riverine Group 2
Award: Fleet Forces Sea Sailor of the Year
Mendoza, 30, told Navy Times that advice from his chiefs helped him get where he is today.
"A lot of people brush off mentors and the mentorship program in itself, but you know, a good mentor will tell you not what you want to hear but what you need to hear to either help you stay on course or get back on course," he said.
And now he gets to be one of them, when he's pinned as a chief select on May 14, the latest in a string of his most significant biggest accomplishments, he said.
"One of the biggest things was making BM3, and then all I ever wanted to do was make BM2 when I was on the ship," he said. "Now, being able to be part of something bigger in the brotherhood inside the chief's mess is something I've been longing for."
Steelworker 1st Class Brenton Heisserer was selected as the Chief of Naval Operations Shore Sailor of the Year.
Photo Credit: Navy
Name: Steelworker 1st Class (chief select) (SCW) Brenton Heisserer
Hometown: Hayward, California
Command: Naval Construction Group 1
Award: Pacific Fleet Shore Sailor of the Year
Heisserer, 30, thought he'd do one enlistment when he signed up in 2007. But He said the camaraderie kept him in the Navy, he said, and now he's excited to continue the journey by making chief.
"Find a way to be authentic," is his advice to junior sailors. "The reason that the Navy is a successful organization — at least from what I've seen — is that when people bring their personality, and who they really are, to their work."
Even if it's not the easiest choice, do what you know you're supposed to do.
"Remain ethical," he said. "Do the right thing no matter what level of complexity the situation brings or what the difficulty might be, or how unpopular it makes you. You know what the right thing is to do and you need to do right by the organization and the people in it."
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
