Photo By L.A. Shively | Petty Officer 2nd Class Shauna Poole was chosen as one of two Spotlight Sailors...... read more read more
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Perhaps the call of the sea is innate for U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Shauna Poole, whose last name in Olde English means one who lives near a body of water. Her hometown – Newfane – in Northern New York is on the shores of Lake Ontario.
Poole enlisted before she’d graduated from high school, nearly 11 years ago and plans to make the Navy a life-long career. Her command, the Navy Operational Support Center or NOSC San Antonio, recently named her one of two Spotlight Sailors in honor of this year’s Navy Reserve Centennial.
“I come from a very small town and I was looking for opportunities – I wanted to get out and see the world,” Poole said, adding that the Navy offered her the best prospects to further her education and give her a chance to work in a field she might not otherwise have. “It caught my eye.”
Originally entering the Navy as a dental technician, Poole deployed to Kuwait for six months in 2004 with Fleet Hospital Portsmouth. She converted to hospital corpsman in 2005 when the Navy merged the two ratings and said the shift was quite a learning experience.
“There is so much more that we have to know outside of just teeth and facial bones,” she joked.
As a corpsman, Poole may work in a lab, in a pharmacy, a ward, in labor and delivery, the emergency room and in the field.
Poole used her new-found skills and knowledge on numerous instances. She deployed with the Marine Corps to Kandahar Province Afghanistan for nine months in 2010. Located in the southern part of the country near the border with Pakistan, the area is mostly rural with the majority of inhabitants being native Pashtuns.
Assigned to a motor transport company charged with operating and maintaining tactical vehicles, Poole took care of the Marines who transported resources, equipment and supplies to smaller forward operations posts via convoy throughout the area.
Her convoy was fired on numerous times and hit roadside bombs. One vehicle rolled into a deep canal during an operation. Poole rendered aid often but none of her injured Marines suffered serious wounds on her watch.
“Most injures were concussions, cuts and bruises,” Poole remembered. “A few stitches and a few extra days’ sleep for some of the guys and then back on the road again. Our whole battalion had a very lucky deployment.”
But, just before coming back to the U.S., Poole and several Marines from her company rendered aid to a contractor who had a heart attack while using a treadmill in Morale, Welfare and Recreation.
“We gave him CPR and got him to the ER but he unfortunately did not make it. It was hard. You just gotta deal,” she said.
“For the Reservists (at NOSC San Antonio), we make sure they are ready and able to mobilize and deploy – make sure all of their medical requirements are up-to-date and that there are no chronic issues and if there are; we get them the treatment that they need.”
The biggest benefits of her Navy career have been learning to grow up, be responsible and a mentor.
“Most of the things I know I learned from her, here – mobilizations, how to screen Reservists. There is just so much stuff and when I do it, I think back, ‘You know what, HM2 taught me that,’” said Hospitalman Nathaniel Garrett, who hails from St. Louis. “She’s a really big help to me.”
Poole is the Suicide Prevention coordinator for NOSC San Antonio, a role she has filled for two and one-half years, and one where she feels she can really help fellow Sailors.
“It’s good to have that trust where people come to you and just vent. Most of the time all they are looking for is someone to listen, not jump down their throats,” she said adding that the Navy is very supportive. “There are tons of anonymous resources and, if they seek help, it is no longer a black eye on their records.”
“If you’re feeling it – get the help,” Poole stressed. “It’s better to get the help now, instead of having tons of people in your command asking questions later.”
“Petty Officer 2nd Class Poole was chosen because she was the active duty Junior Sailor of the Year,” said NOSC San Antonio Command Master Chief Petty Officer Jermaine 'Jay' Rawls, who is originally from Montgomery, Alabama. “Her selection was based on her leadership demonstrated as acting Leading Petty Officer of the medical department for four months.
“She’s hard working and very knowledgeable,” said Chief Petty Officer Pedro Trillo, originally from San Antonio and the NOSC San Antonio administration chief.
Poole said she loves her work especially with Marines and is looking forward to “going back to the green side,” to Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, for her next duty station.
“It’s different. You get to go back to the field life, you get to go camping; you get to go to the ranges. Working with the Marines is fun for me. I grew up with two brothers so it’s like being around a bunch of brothers. They pick on you like a little sister and treat you like a little sister, I just fit in.”
Or possibly it’s her Irish features that help her fit into the green – scarlet hair, a fair complexion, an Irish first name and an impish wit with a ready grin.
The Navy Reserve and Sailors in San Antonio are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year. Established March 3, 1915, as World War I was underway in Europe, then Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels and his assistant, Franklin D. Roosevelt, launched an effort in Congress to create a Navy Reserve in order to have a ready force available to answer our nation’s call.
| Date Taken: | 02.18.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 02.18.2015 14:39 |
| Story ID: | 154748 |
| Location: | SAN ANTONIO, TX, US |
| Hometown: | MONTGOMERY, AL, US |
| Hometown: | NEWFANE, NY, US |
| Hometown: | SAN ANTONIO, TX, US |
| Hometown: | ST. LOUIS, MO, US |
| Web Views: | 382 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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