Sailor Takes On New Challenges
(April 2, 2010) |
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Navy Ensign Kara Sartain, an auxiliaries officer aboard the USS Bainbridge, oversees a division of seven sailors. Sartain attended the U.S. Naval Academy to become an officer and switched careers in a quest to keep challenging herself in her career. Courtesy photo
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WASHINGTON, March 30, 2010 – Navy Ensign
Kara Sartain has risen in the ranks and in her
career through a combination of hard work and
sheer determination.
In less than five years, she earned a college
degree, went from enlisted sailor to naval
officer and tackled a new job that was a
180-degree shift from before.
Her drive, she said, comes from a desire to
excel. “I always feel like I could be doing
more, giving more,” she said. “I don't want to
ever peak.”
Sartain joined the Navy in 2001, seeking to
expand her horizons beyond her small hometown of
Woodstock, Conn. She walked into the recruiter's
office knowing exactly what she wanted to do in
the Navy.
“I told the recruiter, ‘Give me something
medical,'” she said. Her father had died of
cancer when she was 12, sparking her interest in
the career field.
“Since I couldn't help my father, my situation,
I wanted to help others,” Sartain said. “Plus,
there's something selfless about serving
others.” |
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Sartain was 17 at the time and still in high school. After a
year in the delayed enlistment program, she entered the Navy
and served as a corpsman at the National Naval Medical
Center in Bethesda, Md., for several years, serving in
intensive care units.
“I liked the job a lot,” she said. “It seemed to come
natural for me. I couldn't get enough.”
While working in a cardiac intensive care unit, she was
selected to serve on the medical team that cares for the
president when he comes to Bethesda. “I felt like I got
lucky,” she said.
She rose in the ranks to petty officer 3rd class, but felt
she had stalled at that point and “wanted something more.”
Then one day she saw some midshipmen in “funny” outfits and
found out they were cadets in the U.S. Naval Academy in
Annapolis, Md. “I decided I wanted to go there,” she said.
Sartain worked on her application package for more than a
year. Her SAT scores resulted in her application being
turned down, but she didn't take no for an answer. “I took
them over and over, and they were finally high enough,” she
said.
The Navy first sent her to a prep school in Rhode Island to
brush up on her academics. She then attended the academy
from 2004 to 2008.
“I had to work super hard,” Sartain said. “I was surrounded
by super smart kids. I worked weekends and nights, and I
passed.”
Through it all, Sartain found time to fall in love with an
enlisted sailor who also went on to become an officer. They
married a week after she graduated from the academy.
Unable to gain entry into the academically challenging
medical officer career field, Sartain graduated as a surface
warfare officer and asked to be stationed on the USS
Bainbridge to stay close to her husband. She oversaw a
division of 18 sailors who were in charge of boat handling,
anchoring and the flight deck. “Here I was, a little blonde
girl from Connecticut, in charge of a rowdy group,” she
said. “But they were awesome.”
She next moved on to become an auxiliaries officer,
overseeing a division of seven. “We own all of the auxiliary
systems on board -- the air conditioning unit, refrigeration
systems, galley equipment – anything with a motor,” she
explained.
The key to success, she said, is “being flexible. It's a
fast-paced mission.”
Last year, Sartain participated in the highly publicized
rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips after Somali pirates
attempted to hijack the ship Maersk Alabama.
Always up for new challenges, Sartain said she and her
husband would like to be stationed overseas, and she hasn't
given up on her quest to enter the medical field.
“I'm working on a package to serve in the medical service
corps,” she explained, noting that, this time around, she
would be serving in administration.
“It's all gone by so fast,” she said. “I've been to four or
five countries already and work with some awesome people. It
sure got me out of my small hometown.” |
By Elaine Wilson
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2010 |
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