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March 16, 2009

By Meredith Kruse
The Virginian-Pilot
© March 14, 2009

VIRGINIA BEACH

By the time the eight finalists for the Navy's Atlantic surface fleet sailor of the year competition lined up on stage Friday afternoon at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, it had been quite a week.

They'd endured five straight days of intense competition - hundreds of push-ups, grillings from a panel of master chiefs, and good-natured badgering from the boss, Force Master Chief Jerry "The Hammer" Haueter. (Think comedian Bill Murray with a perfectly shaved head and 30 years of discipline.)

Now they'd been called forward, spouses and children in tow, to learn which two of them had won. Petty Officer 1st Class Shakilah Verner stood at attention while keeping one firm hand on daughter Miracle, 3, who smiled broadly at the audience.

The Navy holds the contest each year, starting with individual ships and shore units and culminating with a servicewide competition, which will be held this spring.

These finalists are the top eight out of a force of 24,000, Rear Adm. Kevin Quinn said. "As leaders, they take on the most difficult and challenging jobs, not for glory, but because the mission has got to be accomplished."

To remind them of the importance of that mission, he read from a letter sent to the commanding officer of the Vella Gulf, a Norfolk-based cruiser that stood watch for four months over a merchant ship that had been hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia. Eventually the pirates got their ransom and released the crew unharmed.

"Our lives were spared because you were here to protect us," the ship's captain wrote.

Then Quinn named the winners: for the sea forces, Verner, who serves on the Norfolk-based destroyer Nitze, and for the shore forces, Petty Officer 1st Class Evan Hall, from the Surface Warfare Development Group at Little Creek.

Verner embraced her mother, wiping tears from her eyes. She and Hall received plaques from Quinn and gleaming cutlasses from Haueter.

Handing Hall his cutlass, the force master chief quipped, "I gotta tell ya, young fella, after 30 years in the Navy, I never got anything like this!"

Hall, 27, said Haueter made it clear to all the finalists that he expects them to make chief petty officer - thereby becoming the Navy's next generation of enlisted leaders. The week's experiences were designed to prepare them for that role.

Most are already well on their way. Verner, 31, was assigned to her ship as a career counselor - she's since taken on eight other jobs, from librarian to damage control training team.

The only way to do it, she said, is with a lot of long nights and the support of her shipmates and her mom.

Hall, too, was quick to credit others. When his commanding officer, Capt. Stan DeGeus, offered congratulations, Hall thanked him for his help.

DeGeus corrected him. "I didn't do anything - you did it all yourself."

Meredith Kruse, (757) 446-2164, meredith.kruse@pilotonline.com