GREAT LAKES, Ill. – Seaman Recruit Deaja Colden, Division 908, graduated as the top sailor from Recruit Training Command, earning the Military Excellence Award on February 3.
Colden, from Portsmouth, Virginia, said she joined the Navy to achieve personal and professional goals.
“I want to discover the best version of myself,” she said. “I needed redemption for the mistakes I made during the past year of my life. I lost a lot of loved ones very close to me and doing something positive with my life was not only for me, but also for them.”
Colden earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in information systems from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. She is a 2016 graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School, where she was a member of the National Honor Society and Army Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps.
Tate is assigned the rate of gas turbine systems technician (mechanical).
The Navy Club of the United States Military Excellence Award is the top award presented to the recruit that best exemplifies the qualities of enthusiasm, devotion to duty, military bearing, and teamwork. The award places her at the pinnacle of today’s newest Sailors. Colden is awarded a flag letter of commendation as part of her recognition.
Colden said she was honored to receive the Military Excellence Award.
“It has shown me that I am able to do anything I put my mind to,” she said. “I will take this and continue to strive for things that may be unattainable for others.”
Colden credited her Recruit Division Commanders (RDC), Chief Construction Electrician Anthony Williams, Fire Controlman Aegis 1st Class Lance Shupe, and Builder 2nd Class Jacqueline Baimbridge for their leadership and guidance.
Letters from home were a source of inspiration and motivation for Colden.
“My mother, Kenyatta Hardy, my brother, Malcolm Hall, my sister, Destini Hardy and my wife, Kameelah Ruley, all motivated me during boot camp,” Colden said. “I was able to receive mail detailing how proud everyone was of me and how much my younger siblings missed me. It all pushed me to make it through boot camp and excel so they could be even more proud when they came to see me at graduation. Their love and admiration never wavered.”
Colden said the toughest part of boot camp was learning to become an effective leader.
“As the (recruit) Master-At-Arms, my role in the division was to maintain good order and discipline.” she said. “People do not enjoy being told what to do, especially by someone younger than them. By understanding that my position was vital to the success of the division, and that I was chosen for this position by my RDCs for a reason, I was able to rise to the challenge.”
After graduation, Colden will attend the Gas Turbine System Technician “A” School at Great Lakes. Gas Turbine Systems Technicians (Mechanical) operate, repair and perform organizational and intermediate maintenance on main propulsion machinery.
Boot camp is approximately 10 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. More than 40,000 recruits train annually at the Navy’s only boot camp.
Story by Alan Nunn, Recruit Training Command Public Affairs