Dedicated Naval Communicator named Sailor of Year
By Lookout Production on Mar 06, 2024 with Comments 0
Sailor 1st Class Marc-Andre St-Pierre of NRU Asterix receives the Sailor of the Year Award for 2023 from Mrs. Geraldine Hinton during a ceremony aboard the vessel on Feb 22. Photo: Peter Mallett / Lookout
Peter Mallett,
Staff Writer
—
A Naval Communicator credits the wisdom passed down by fellow sailors for capturing two prestigious awards this February.
Sailor 1st Class (S1) Marc-Andre St-Pierre received the Captain (Navy) (Capt(N)) Peter Hinton Memorial Award for Leadership and Excellence in Service and the Maritime Forces Pacific’s (MARPAC) Top Sailor Award for 2023 in a Feb. 22 ceremony aboard Naval Replenishment Unit (NRU) Asterix. He also received the Sailor of the Third Quarter 2023 Award last fall.
Sailor 1st Class (S1) Marc-Andre St-Pierre quickly thanked his peers, instructors and other military mentors who helped him along the way.
“I truly believe I won because of all people I have met throughout my career who have pushed me to success,” said S1 St-Pierre.
His shipmates weren’t surprised by his win, including Petty Officer 1st Class (PO1) Mathé Yhan, NRU Asterix’s Senior Naval Communicator and St-Pierre’s direct supervisor. PO1 Yhan says S1 St-Pierre takes excellent pride in progressing the training of junior sailors.
“Even before reporting onboard the Asterix, Sailor St-Pierre showed great enthusiasm in his performance and quickly volunteered for additional duties,” said PO1 Yhan. “He is extremely professional and dedicated to helping juniors achieve strong performance onboard.”
St-Pierre says volunteering for charitable work and being an ‘honest and genuine’ person didn’t hurt his cause.
“I’m not scared of starting a new challenge to better myself and also believe stepping up for my peers and always having their backs builds character and trust,” he said.
His job is far from a vacation, though. S1 St-Pierre currently works as Senior Watch Hand aboard the Asterix. The position has many responsibilities, including message processing and maintaining communication with international partners. While deployed to the Asia-Pacific in August 2023, S1 St-Pierre received a commendation from Lieutenant-Commander (LCdr) Bucky Branscombe, NRU Asterix Commanding Officer, for troubleshooting a network outage aboard the Asterix, assisting in Force Generation training and mentoring other junior sailors.
PO1 Yhan says the recognition of S1 St-Pierre has positively impacted daily operations in his department, and other members noticed that his high performance was acknowledged at the fleet level.
S1 St-Pierre says he’s focused on becoming more knowledgeable and honing personal, work and teaching skills to train incoming sailors better.
Recipe for Success
In honour of his achievement, S1 St-Pierre received a commemorative plaque and the Commander’s Coin.
The ceremony was presided over by Commodore David Mazur, Canadian Fleet Pacific Commander, LCdr Branscombe, and Geraldine Hinton, who presented the Capt(N) Peter Hinton Award. The award honours her late husband, a Second World War veteran, who commanded a landing craft during Canada’s Second World War D-Day Mission.
In presenting the award, Mrs. Hinton said her late husband would be very impressed by S1 St-Pierre.
“I wish you had known him because he was very special and always wanted people to show their best and always looked for leaders who understood their purpose in the Royal Canadian Navy,” she said.
As a further show of appreciation for his efforts, he was invited to be a guest of the Vancouver Canucks for their National Hockey League game against the Boston Bruins on Feb. 24.
Sailor 1st Class (S1) Marc-Andre St-Pierre quickly thanked his peers, instructors and other military mentors who helped him along the way.
“I truly believe I won because of all people I have met throughout my career who have pushed me to success,” said S1 St-Pierre.
His shipmates weren’t surprised by his win, including Petty Officer 1st Class (PO1) Mathé Yhan, NRU Asterix’s Senior Naval Communicator and St-Pierre’s direct supervisor. PO1 Yhan says S1 St-Pierre takes excellent pride in progressing the training of junior sailors.
“Even before reporting onboard the Asterix, Sailor St-Pierre showed great enthusiasm in his performance and quickly volunteered for additional duties,” said PO1 Yhan. “He is extremely professional and dedicated to helping juniors achieve strong performance onboard.”
St-Pierre says volunteering for charitable work and being an ‘honest and genuine’ person didn’t hurt his cause.
“I’m not scared of starting a new challenge to better myself and also believe stepping up for my peers and always having their backs builds character and trust,” he said.
His job is far from a vacation, though. S1 St-Pierre currently works as Senior Watch Hand aboard the Asterix. The position has many responsibilities, including message processing and maintaining communication with international partners. While deployed to the Asia-Pacific in August 2023, S1 St-Pierre received a commendation from Lieutenant-Commander (LCdr) Bucky Branscombe, NRU Asterix Commanding Officer, for troubleshooting a network outage aboard the Asterix, assisting in Force Generation training and mentoring other junior sailors.
PO1 Yhan says the recognition of S1 St-Pierre has positively impacted daily operations in his department, and other members noticed that his high performance was acknowledged at the fleet level.
S1 St-Pierre says he’s focused on becoming more knowledgeable and honing personal, work and teaching skills to train incoming sailors better.
Recipe for Success
In honour of his achievement, S1 St-Pierre received a commemorative plaque and the Commander’s Coin.
The ceremony was presided over by Commodore David Mazur, Canadian Fleet Pacific Commander, LCdr Branscombe, and Geraldine Hinton, who presented the Capt(N) Peter Hinton Award. The award honours her late husband, a Second World War veteran, who commanded a landing craft during Canada’s Second World War D-Day Mission.
In presenting the award, Mrs. Hinton said her late husband would be very impressed by S1 St-Pierre.
“I wish you had known him because he was very special and always wanted people to show their best and always looked for leaders who understood their purpose in the Royal Canadian Navy,” she said.
As a further show of appreciation for his efforts, he was invited to be a guest of the Vancouver Canucks for their National Hockey League game against the Boston Bruins on Feb. 24.
Filed Under: News Release • Top Stories
About the Author:
