NAS Pax River Names Top Sailors of 2023
NAS Patuxent River’s Sailors of the Year 2023 are, from left, Sailor of the Year HM1 Quinton Dotson, Junior Sailor of the Year PS2 Courage Falayi, and Bluejacket of the Year HM3 Chelcey Justiniano.
Naval Air Station Patuxent River announces its Sailors of the Year, marking the command’s top sailors for 2023.
“I am regularly impressed by the commitment our Pax sailors show to their command, their Navy, and each other,” said NAS Patuxent River Commanding Officer CAPT Douglas Burfield. “The sailors chosen as this year’s Sailors of the Year exemplify it every day. I hope they are as proud of their achievement as we are of them.”
The Sailor of the Year Program was established by the chief of naval operations to recognize the superior performance of enlisted personnel, pay grades E-1 to E-6, and emphasize outstanding achievement and professionalism, exemplary personal conduct, command impact, mission contribution, dedication to self-improvement and superb initiative.
The following Pax command sailors were honored for their accomplishments:
NAS Pax River Sailor of the Year – Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Quinton Dotson
As command climate specialist, Dotson is sought out by NAS Pax River’s Commanding Officer and Senior Enlisted Leaders for advice and guidance on all aspects of Equal Opportunity. He provides analysis and recommendations regarding all informal, formal, and anonymous harassment and prohibited discrimination complaints to the commanding officer while adhering to, and informing of, all changes in the OPNAVINST 5354.1H.
He conducted on sight assessments, divisional inspections, and served as the central point of contact for all command climate issues. In addition, he provided CMEO program oversight, assisted and provided advice regarding conflict resolution and grievance redress procedures, provided Command Resiliency Team training, and revamped the process in which climate assessments, complaints, POA&Ms, and executive summaries are maintained for Pax.
NAS Pax River Junior Sailor of the Year – Personnel Specialist 2nd Class Courage Falayi
Falayi, NAS Patuxent River pay and personnel clerk, maintains the financial and service records of command service members, making her responsible to process travel claims, pay entitlements, deductions, payments, collections, and allotment requests for active and reserve components. In addition, she also interprets npublications and disseminates information to customers, reviews pay transactions, interprets Leave and Earnings Statements, Master Military Pay Accounts, and DoD pay and travel publications.
She maintains the Enlisted Distribution Verification Reports, initiating screening for special duty assignments. She is also the command leave administrator, managing the program and having general responsibility for all leave transactions processed via e-Leave to include correction and cancellation. She led teams to foster understanding of changing policies, ensuring the outstanding maintenance and readiness of Command Pay and Personnel Administration Program, and meeting command-wide mission requirements. Falayi provided pay, personnel, and administrative support for more than 250 sailors and 620 DoD/NAF/AF civilians.
During the 2023 Inspector General inspection and area visits, Family Care Plan Program received an outstanding rating due to her efforts.
NAS Pax River Bluejacket of the Year – Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Chelcey Justiniano
Justiniano serves as the Search and Rescue duty officer, a position normally held by a junior officer.
During the reporting period, she advised 10 officers and 11 Aircrewmen in the execution of 190 planned flights, 512 sorties, totaling 702 mishap free flight hours. Her expertise and leadership ensured 100% search and rescue coverage for the Naval District Washington area operations supporting 450 critical research, development, test, and evaluation flights across 64 tenant commands. As the SAR duty officer for three drills, she coordinated and disseminated time critical information to SAR crews, resulting in a prompt response time and enhanced training.
She trained 16 rescue swimmers, SAR medical technicians, and hospital corpsmen in basic life-saving techniques and triage, increasing the overall mission effectiveness of the SAR division in the event of an actual SAR mission. Her performance directly contributed to the achievement of 100% SAR availability in
support of RDT&E operations. Justiniano further maintained individual medical readiness across two units of 227 personnel and assisted Naval Medical Training Center Pax River by providing 305 patient vitals and physical assessments, increasing medical readiness by 10%.
Read more about their performance and leadership accomplishments over the past year here.
