Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Bill Moran announced the 2017 Navy Shore Sailor of the Year (SOY) during a ceremony held at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., April 19.
Moran announced Legalman 1st Class Jean M. Yuston, U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Africa Shore SOY, as this year's winner. Yuston also received a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal at the ceremony.
"This is one place I never thought I would be, not because I doubted myself but because I believe there are so many others who deserved to be here as well today," said Yuston. "There are so many Sailors in the Fleet who are doing amazing things every single day, and in many cases, they are doing the exact same thing that we are doing to get here. I believe I got here because of three things that I've been given: mentorship, morals and my personal mantra: 'No excuses.'"
Alongside Wilson were Aviation Electronics Technician 1st Class Shelldon L. Hunter, Cryptologic Technician 1st Class Jared D. Mollette, Construction Mechanic 1st Class Cole K. Tankersley, and Electrician's Mate 1st Class Avanese P. Taylor.
"These Sailors come from all corners of the country and all walks of life, and we are lucky and fortunate that they chose to serve in the United States Navy," said Moran. "I'm not going to talk about their accomplishments because each one of these citations demonstrate the incredible quality of these young men and women, what they've done to get to this point, their maturity, and their ability to articulate what they and the United States value."
Yuston is a native of Sioux Center, Iowa. She enlisted in the Navy in July 2009 and attended Recruit Traning Command, Great Lakes, Illinois. After completion of Basic Training, she attended Master-At-Arms "A" school at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. Her duty stations include Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific, Bangor, Washington, where she earned the nuclear weapons security designator; Naval Security Forces Bahrain in 2011, where she served in support of Operation New Dawn and the Global War on Terrorism; and then Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, in 2013, where she served as a watch commander and training leading petty officer. Yuston later cross-rated from master-at-arms to legalman and attended the Legalman "A" school and Legalman Paralegal Education Program in Newport, Rhode Island. She is currently serving at Naval Forces Europe/Africa/6th Fleet in Naples, Italy, as the force judge advocate leading petty officer and works with operational law and administrative law portfolios.
Petty Officer Yusten will return to Washington, D.C., May 14-17 for the 2017 SOY Recognition Week, hosted by the master chief petty officer of the Navy, where she will be meritoriously advanced to the rank of chief petty officer. Adm. Elmo Zumwalt initiated the SOY program in 1972 to recognize outstanding Atlantic and Pacific Fleet Sailors. The following year, the Shore SOY program was introduced. Each year, every Navy ship, station, and command around the world chooses its SOY based on leadership, professionalism, dedication, and superior performance. These selectees compete against recipients from other commands, eventually competing at higher echelons until the Navy's five finest are chosen - only one is selected as the Navy Shore SOY.