Photo By Thomas Cieslak | Navy Lt. j.g. Nelyavier Meletiche serves as a physician assistant aboard Navy Medicine...... read more read more
A Navy lieutenant junior grade serving aboard Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Cherry Point draws upon his enlisted background to better relate to the patients he cares for.
Lt. j.g. Nelyavier Meletiche serves as a physician assistant aboard NMRTC Cherry Point, having previously served as an enlisted hospital corpsman and surgical technologist.
“Start now. Be the person you aspire to become,” said Meletiche, a Madison, Wisconsin, native. “Many people speak about their dreams, but very few take the initiative to ensure they become a reality.”
Meletiche lives by that motto, having enlisted in the Navy in March 2016, becoming a corpsman later that year, and then attending and graduating from surgical technology school in 2017.
As a corpsman, he began his career at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. From there, he deployed as an individual augmentee on a Role II surgical team, earned his Fleet Marine Force pin while attached to the deployed I Marine Expeditionary Force Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force and took part in a medical readiness exercise in Honduras.
“Without my family’s support and resilience, none of it would have been possible.”
His rigorous career as a corpsman inspired him to pursue his passion for Navy Medicine. While serving as a surgical technologist at Naval Dental Center Camp Lejeune, Meletiche applied for and was accepted into the Medical Service Corps Interservice Procurement Program in 2023.
“The most difficult part of becoming a naval officer was sacrificing my time with my family to accomplish what was needed to be done,” said Meletiche. “Without my family’s support and resilience, none of it would have been possible.”
He attended physician assistant school at the Interservice Physician Assistant Program at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, completing his clinical rotation at NMRTC Camp Lejeune and commissioning as a naval officer in March 2026.
“There is something to be said about being a Mustang in the Navy. I can truly appreciate my roots as a corpsman and surgical technician”
Meletiche currently serves in NMRTC Cherry Point’s Patient Centered Medical Home, where he provides care for the families of service members and beneficiaries residing near Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. He is a part of a team integral to the readiness of the base and its units by ensuring Marines deploying from the base know their families are taken care of and remain focused on their training and operations.
“There is something to be said about being a Mustang in the Navy. I can truly appreciate my roots as a corpsman and surgical technician,” said Meletiche. Referring to his patients, he added: “My enlisted background helps me understand their situations and excites me to be in the position to guide them.”
| Date Taken: | 06.10.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 06.10.2026 09:09 |
| Story ID: | 567313 |
| Location: | CHERRY POINT, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Hometown: | MADISON, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 24 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, I Keep the Warfighter in the Fight: Lieutenant Junior Grade Nelyavier Meletiche, by Thomas Cieslak, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
