By Alan Nunn, Recruit Training Command Public Affairs
GREAT LAKES - Seaman Recruit Roxane Grant, a 2016 West Forsyth High School graduate and Clemmons, North Carolina native, recently graduated as the top Sailor from Recruit Training Command, Division, 279, earning the Military Excellence Award.
Grant, 20, said winning the MEA has made her more self-assured and assertive.“I now have the confidence to be more outspoken,” Grant said. “I was shocked when I was told I won the MEA and it has inspired me to never doubt myself again.”
The Navy Club of the United States Military Excellence Award is the top award presented to the No. 1 recruit of their graduating training group. The MEA is awarded to the recruit that best exemplifies the qualities of enthusiasm, devotion to duty, military bearing and teamwork. The award placed her at the pinnacle of today’s newest Sailors; she was awarded a flag letter of commendation for achievements.
When asked why she joined the Navy, Grant said, "I joined the Navy to help save lives. In the movie ‘Hacksaw Ridge,’ the main character says, ‘With the world so set on tearing itself."
Grant credited her Recruit Division Commanders, Chief Builder Michael Bettencourt, Gas Turbine System Technician (Mechanical) 1st Class Ben McCarty and Electrician’s Mate 1st Class Marialeona Guerrero for their leadership and guidance.
“My RDCs played a huge role in motivating me,” Grant said. “Chief Bettencourt always had a speech on how we can better ourselves, Petty Officer McCarty pushed me to go past my potential, and Petty Officer Guerrero, my role model, showed me that there are amazing women in the military. There were new ways to walk, talk, and how you carry yourself. I accomplished that by listening to my RDCs and trusting the process.”
Grant said the toughest part of her boot camp experience was the transition from a civilian to a military mindset.
Boot camp is approximately eight weeks and all enlistees into the U.S. Navy begin their careers at the command. Training includes physical fitness, seamanship, firearms, firefighting and shipboard damage control along with lessons in Navy heritage and core values, teamwork and discipline. About 38,000 to 40,000 recruits graduate annually from RTC and begin their Navy careers.
Grant is assigned the rate of Hospital Corpsman.
After graduation, Grant will attend Hospital Corpsman “A” School in Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, where she will learn basic principles and techniques of patient care and first-aid procedures.
Grant, played lacrosse in high school and is pursuing a college degree in biology.
For more news from Recruit Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/rtc/.