Courtesy Photo | Airman Eliza Ramirez graduated as the top Sailor from Recruit Training Command (RTC)...... read more read more
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GREAT LAKES (NNS) – Airman Eliza Ramirez graduated as the top Sailor from Recruit Training Command (RTC) Great Lakes, earning the Military Excellence Award (MEA) May 7, 2026.
Ramirez, 18, from Defiance, Ohio, said the news took a moment to fully register.
"When I was told I won the Military Excellence Award, I didn't have an immediate reaction because of the amount of shock I was in," she said. "I couldn't really believe that I, out of the hundreds of Sailors graduating alongside me, was the one who stood out. I could have never earned this award without my division having my back."
The Military Excellence Award is presented to the recruit who best demonstrates enthusiasm, devotion to duty, military bearing and teamwork throughout training. As part of the recognition, recipients receive a flag letter of commendation.
For Ramirez, the award is less a destination than a starting point.
"Earning the award gives me more confidence to know that I am capable of staying on my A game even when I’m challenged," she said. “Earning this award is a privilege, and will set my Navy career up in ways I can't even imagine. My name is out there now, and I'll have higher expectations to keep up with throughout my career."
Those expectations fit someone who had been stacking them her whole life.
At Defiance High School, Ramirez played varsity soccer, softball and basketball, earned third-team all-league honors in soccer as a junior and senior, and graduated in the top five percent of her class on a Governor's Merit Scholarship. She later made the Dean's List at Northwest State Community College before enrolling at Kent State University in the fall of 2025 and finding that college, at least on those terms, wasn't where she was supposed to be.
"Joining the military has always been in the back of my mind," Ramirez said. "When I attended KSU and realized it just wasn't for me, I knew right away that the military would be the chosen route for my life. The Navy provides opportunities and benefits I'll be able to use down the road, including going back to college later on my own terms."
The Navy was already part of her family's story. Her uncle, Jason Deatrick, spent 33 years in the military and retired as a Chief Warrant Officer Five, the branch's highest warrant officer grade. It was a career Ramirez watched and carried with her long before the decision became her own.
That family bond, as it turned out, was also boot camp's sharpest edge. Ramirez had always been close to home, and the limited contact with family during training was the hardest thing she navigated.
"I've always been a homebody. I loved being home, enjoying the comfort of my family," she said. "Not being able to talk to the biggest support system you have is hard, especially during times of change."
She found her way through it on paper. Writing letters to her mom, dad and sister gave her something the occasional phone call couldn't fully provide.
"I could imagine myself simply having a normal conversation with them as I was writing," she said. “Mentally, that really helped.”
A family motto, she said, also helped to steady her through the harder stretches: Pain is always temporary.
Her RDCs, Chief Aviation Structural Mechanic Cesar Pastor-Silva and Aviation Boatswain’s Mate-Handling 2nd Class Daesha Anderson-Sills, applied pressure of a different kind.
"They held me to a high standard every single day, and looking back, it's clear they did it because they saw potential in me," Ramirez said. "They were determined to develop toughness and attention to detail, and because of that I learned that no matter what is thrown at you, you can always persevere.”
For anyone back home picturing boot camp as nine weeks of punishment, Ramirez wants to complicate that picture.
"A lot of people focus on what they think the worst parts of boot camp are without really knowing," she said. "They never stop to think about the family you build. As a recruit going through the same things as the 85 other people in your division, you eventually develop a bond that's truly special."
Following graduation, Ramirez will attend Aviation Structural Mechanic "A" school for technical training in aircraft maintenance and repair.
Training at RTC is approximately nine weeks long, and all enlistees in the U.S. Navy begin their careers at the command. More than 40,000 recruits train annually at the Navy's only boot camp.
| Date Taken: | 05.05.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 05.06.2026 12:55 |
| Story ID: | 564543 |
| Location: | ILLINOIS, US |
| Hometown: | DEFIANCE, OHIO, US |
| Web Views: | 17 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Ramirez Earns Military Excellence Award at Recruit Training Command, by Marc Lindsay, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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