Eighteen-year-old Seaman Noah Sammons, son of Josh and Bella Sammons of Seaford, graduated as the top sailor from Recruit Training Command Great Lakes, earning the Military Excellence Award. The MEA is presented to the recruit who best demonstrates enthusiasm, devotion to duty, military bearing, and teamwork throughout training.

In an official press release, Sammons is quoted saying, “Winning the MEA shows me what I could be capable of in the future, and the keys to getting there. I don’t stand up here alone. This was only possible through the steadfast support and guidance of my Recruit Division Commanders (RDCs), my shipmates, and my family. It motivates me to aim even higher, and it shows me that teamwork, dedication to duty, and heart can take you a long way.

“The military brings a lot of diverse people together and puts them under a great deal of stress,” Sammons continued. “Everyone needs a certain approach to work well with the team, whether that’s a slow, kind approach or tough love. You have to understand how people are thinking and step outside your own head to bring the team together.”

Sammons said his approach is relatively easygoing. “I try to avoid yelling. My philosophy is, if you need to yell, you’re already wrong.”

Sammons was well prepared for Recruit Training Command, also known as basic training. He was part of the Coast Guard Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) at Sussex Tech from its inception four years ago, which gave him a foundation in drill, seamanship and most importantly, leadership.

“Having that leadership and team-building experience helped immensely,” Sammons said. “I frequently had to work with and manage difficult people in JROTC, and slow down to help them understand something or get through a challenge. Learning how to help where you can, let go of what you can’t change, and stay cool when things go wrong was a game changer.”

In a telephone interview from San Antonio, Sammons said he had joined the JROTC mainly to make himself a better person. “I hoped it would make me more physically fit and a more disciplined person. I’m happy to say I got both.”

Beyond drills, Sammons said in JROTC he had learned to work with people as a team. “I learned how to interview well, be presentable and act with manners. Those are lost skills today,” he said. JROTC also allowed him to go on several field trips to Coast Guard bases.

For Noah, the decision to enlist came down to a single word: love. “I joined the Navy out of love. Love for my country, love for the people in it, love of service and the people who serve,” he said. “I believe this is the place I can give the absolute most to my country and my people, both in peacetime and in conflict.”

He joined the Navy, rather than Coast Guard, he said, because the Navy offers more opportunities in health care as a career in the Navy. Also, in the Navy he was able to get right into training for his chosen field rather than spend time as a ‘non-rate’ (a member who has graduated from boot camp but does not yet have an assigned job specialty or professional rating.)

He explained he chose hospital corpsman training because it puts him where he can do the most good for the people around him.

“I want to help people as much as possible,” he said. “This job will give me the chance to develop skills and experience that are invaluable.”

He has always had an interest in a health career, perhaps in kinesiology, or sports medicine. He was in the nursing program at Sussex Tech.

Training at RTC is approximately nine weeks long, and all enlistees in the U.S. Navy begin their careers there. More than 40,000 recruits train annually at the Navy’s only boot camp.

Sammons had a little time to celebrate RTC graduation with his family, but within two days was aboard a plane at 2 a.m. bound for Hospital Corpsman A School in San Antonio, Texas. There he will spend 14 to 19 weeks learning patient care and first aid procedures. Where he will go next, he doesn’t know. He has a five-year contract, all active duty. For now, things are on hold until school starts. He borrows books from roommates who are already in class in order to get a jump on things, and watches videos on nursing, anatomy and physiology to help him study.

He does hope to return to Delaware some day, since his family is here. His mom is a clinical medical assistant; his dad, a graphic designer and video producer. He has a brother, Riley. His grandparents are Bonny Sammons of Lincoln, and Bill Sammons, Jr., founder of The Bridge 88.7, a Christian radio station serving Delmarva and New Jersey. He is the great-grandson of the late Pastor Bill Sammons, Sr. and Mary Jane Sammons, founders of Eagle’s Nest Church, school and campsite near Milton.

Josh Sammons said of his son, “We are so proud of Noah and all his hard work in JROTC. That discipline is beginning to pay off. We are excited to see what the future brings for him.”