JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, Texas –
A Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston Sailor was selected as the Navy Medicine 2016 Sailor of the Year during a ceremony at Defense Health Headquarters, in Washington, D.C., Jan. 27.
Petty Officer 1st Class Cameron Graham from Navy Medicine Training Support Center, or NMTSC, at JBSA- Fort Sam Houston serves as a Hospital Corps school instructor at the Medical Education and Training Campus, or METC, training more than 4,000 Sailors assigned to joint military operations world-wide.
Vice Adm. Forrest Faison, Navy surgeon general and chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, kicked off the ceremony as the nominees representing Navy Medicine’s three regional Echelon-3 commands and BUMED Headquarters anxiously waited for Force Master Chief Terry J. Prince, director of the hospital corps, to announce this year’s selectee.
“Today, only 28 percent of graduating high school seniors are eligible to come on active duty,” Faison said. “These Sailors made it on active duty, were selected for the Hospital Corps and then nominated for the Navy Medicine Sailor of the Year. They really are the best of the best.”
Graham was born in Biloxi, Miss. and is a native of Spring Hill, Fla. where he joined the Navy in 2007. Since then, Graham has served in several duty stations with the Marine Corps at Camp Lejeune, N.C.; Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii; Washington D.C., as well as three deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Prince was moved by the hard work and commitment all four nominees demonstrated throughout their careers.
“As director of the Hospital Corps, I’m extremely proud of these four Sailors” Prince said. “All of you are winners and hopefully all of you will be chief petty officers next year as well.”
Each of the candidates was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal from Faison during the ceremony.
Graham will now compete for the Navy-wide shore sailor of the year competition later this year.
The Navy’s Hospital Corps consists of more than 30,000 active duty and reserve Navy hospital corpsmen that deploy with Sailors and Marines worldwide, in both wartime and peacetime. The rating is the largest, most professionally diverse and highly decorated enlisted corps in the Navy.
Navy Medicine is a global health care network of 63,000 personnel that provide health care support to the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, their families and veterans, in high operational tempo environments, at expeditionary medical facilities, medical treatment facilities, hospitals, clinics, hospital ships and research units around the world.