Rear Adm. Mark Butt, commander, Coast Guard 13th District, shakes hands with Petty Officer 1st Class Tara Dodd after she was announced as the enlisted person of the year March 3, 2017. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Office 3rd Class Amanda Norcross.
SEATTLE — Two Pacific Northwest-based Coast Guard petty officers were chosen as the 2016 active-duty enlisted person of the year and reserve enlisted person of the year for the 13th Coast Guard District during a recognition banquet Friday, at Coast Guard Base Seattle.
Petty Officer 1st Class Tara Dodd, a culinary specialist assigned to the Coast Guard Cutter Swordfish, and Petty Officer 1st Class Nicole Cimino, a reserve gunner’s mate assigned to the Coast Guard Port Security Unit 313, were selected as the EPOY and REPOY, respectively.
A motivated self starter, Dodd has epitomized sound leadership with her unique ability to instill confidence and followership in others, encompassed by her attention to detail, empathy and mentorship. As a respected leader in the district, she was asked to train perspective officer in charge candidates on galley operations at a conference held at Coast Guard Station Port Angeles. Through her own initiative, she qualified in three additional unit certifications normally not achieved by culinary specialists, contributing to crew moral and operational success. In her off-duty time she assists an 85-year-old World War II veteran by mowing his grass and performing odd jobs around the property and also volunteered for the local Red Cross Home Fire Campaign, where she inspected and replaced 40 non-functional smoke detectors at a retirement center.
Dodd is the culinary specialist aboard the cutter Swordfish, an 87-Foot Coastal Patrol Boat homeported in Port Angeles, where she is responsible for the purchasing, preparation and nutritional value of all meals on board, as well as responsible for the sanitation and cleanliness of the cutter as the unit Master at Arms. Hailing from Kingwood, Texas, and currently living in Sequim, Dodd began her Coast Guard career in 2007, assigned to Station New York as a non-rate before transitioning to “A” school.
Rear Adm. Mark Butt, commander, Coast Guard 13th District, shakes hands with Petty Officer 1st Class Nicole Cimino after she was announced as the reserve enlisted person of the year award at a ceremony held at Coast Guard Base Seattle, March 3, 2017. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Office 3rd Class Amanda Norcross.
Among Cimino’s many feats throughout the year, she served as Level I trauma center nurse, where she saved the lives of more than 1,000 seriously injured and critically wounded people. She saved the Coast Guard over $200 thousand in emergency weapon replacement costs, and she also lead an armory team that exceeded expected Navy standards and received honors as the best armory of the joint military units deployed in Guantanamo Bay.
Camino is the lead petty officer of the armory at PSU 313 in Everett, where she supervises maintenance, training and range operations, and maintains the weapons qualifications for the 159 members assigned to the unit. Raised in San Jose, California, and now living in Lake Stevens, Camino entered the Coast Guard in 2000 and joined the reserves in 2004.
The EPOY program recognizes exceptional men and women in the Coast Guard’s enlisted workforce who are top performers. These individuals are selected by a panel of senior enlisted members who evaluate each nominee against a set of established criteria that includes performance, work ethics, military bearing, standards of conduct and a strong community service commitment.
These regional winners are eligible for national honors along with their peers from other Coast Guard regions across the nation.
