FORT EUSTIS, Va. –
U.S. Army Sgt. Sara Comrie remembers when she felt the call to join the military.
Sure, her father served in the U.S. Army, Delta Force, and flew UH-60 Black Hawks - and he wanted his daughter to join the U.S. Coast Guard - but it wasn't until a former boyfriend, a U.S. Marine, was killed in the line of duty in Iraq that she realized what she had to do.
While visiting her former boyfriend in the hospital in Maryland where he was healing, Comrie saw "all these Service members injured."
"I wanted to save them," Comrie said, as she vividly recalled the account. "Get them back to their families."
All the passion and skills Comrie devotes to her job as the Noncommissioned Officer of Troop Medical Clinic 1 at Ft. Eustis' McDonald Army Health Center were recognized this year when she was named U.S. Medical Department Activity's Noncommissioned Officer of the Year for 2012.
To earn this award, Comrie competed against other Soldiers who had won monthly, then quarterly boards. Oral finals were conducted in front of a board headed by sergeants major and first sergeants. The competition also included an Army physical training test, a four-mile road march to be completed in under an hour while carrying a 45-pound backpack, a weapons qualification test and land navigation course.
Studying for the boards was the hardest part, Comrie said, because she had to prepare to answer questions dealing with "anything in the military, first aid, vehicles, basically anything you can think of that the Army deals with."
"You have to know what you're talking about," Comrie said.
Part of winning the MEDDAC NCO of the Year award included receiving an Army Commendation Medal and a trip to Joint Base Mcguire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., to compete with other Soldiers for the title of North Regional Medical Command Best Warrior. This five-day competition was comprised of a lot more of what Comrie had to do at Fort Eustis to win, including a written essay and a hand-to-hand combative tournament.
As luck would have it, Comrie was paired with a 215-pound Soldier to go head-to-head against. The thinking is, "the enemy doesn't care how big you are," Comrie said. Once she saw the other contestant, Comrie admitted that she "was looking at the mat and shaking my head."
Regardless of the outcome, Comrie takes pride in knowing she was among the "best of the best" competing for Best Warrior.
Next for Comrie will be a trip south in September to Fort Bragg, N.C. From there, it won't be long until she's sent back to Iraq, where she served 15 months as a combat medic earlier in her nearly six-year Army career. During her deployment, her 8-year-old son will stay in Virginia with her mother, Sally Comrie.
"I wouldn't be able to do all the things I do if it wasn't for her,"
Comrie said.
Once she returns to the Middle East, Comrie will once again be first in line to help wounded Soldiers -- what she joined the Army to do.
As a combat medic serving in Iraq, Comrie said she realized she was the "the first line of defense." Fellow Soldiers depended on her to deal with traumatic injuries.
"I'm good at my job, and I can't wait to go back," Comrie said. "I miss being in the field."