Courtesy Photo | Airman Sebastian Esquivel graduated as the top Sailor from Recruit Training Command...... read more read more
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GREAT LAKES (NNS) – Airman Sebastian Esquivel graduated as the top Sailor from Recruit Training Command (RTC) Great Lakes, earning the Military Excellence Award (MEA) Sept. 10, 2026.
Esquivel, 18, of Denair, California, said the honor took time to sink in, because he'd walked into boot camp intending to simply get through it.
"When I first heard I won, I was in disbelief," Esquivel said. "My initial mindset entering boot camp was to keep my head down, go unnoticed and get out without any trouble. But after the first week, I felt like I needed to do more. I wanted to be more involved. Every week that feeling grew, and I kept raising the standard I held myself to. It didn't really hit me until my second RDC told me to realize what I'd just won."
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 Esquivel, one of the deepest reasons for enlisting sits at home, in the example his father set.
"For the past 21 years, my dad has gone to work at five in the morning and come home at eight at night, working construction to make sure my five siblings and I were comfortable and fed," Esquivel said. "I've never heard him ask for anything for himself. I'm serving to repay him for everything he's given us."
The other reason was a fear of standing still. Esquivel said he watched people around his hometown settle into routines they never chose to leave.
"I didn't want to get trapped in a small town," he said. "I've seen people get comfortable, work the same job and live the same day for years. I knew I wanted to go out and chase a better opportunity instead of waiting for one to come to me."
That resolve was tested before he ever arrived at RTC. Three days before he left for boot camp, Esquivel's grandmother passed away, and he shipped out carrying the weight of not being home for his family.
"I felt horrible not being able to be there for the funeral, or for my mother when she needed me," Esquivel said. "When things got rough, I'd tell myself that if I thought I was struggling, I could only imagine what my mom was going through. That kept me going."
He's the first person in his family to join the Navy, and he hopes the achievement reaches the people who shaped him.
"I hope my mom is proud of me," he said.
The hardest part of training, Esquivel said, was finding his motivation each day, until a blunt wake-up call from a shipmate changed his outlook.
"The first few weeks I'd wake up mentally exhausted and not in the mood to do anything. I was being selfish, putting myself first and not putting in the effort," he said. "Then one day a shipmate called me out for being lazy, and it hit me. Everyone around me was waking up and going through the same things, and doing it better than me. I appreciate my shipmates for holding me accountable, because otherwise I might have stayed in that mindset a lot longer."
What helped him climb out was a familiar instinct built on the football field at home. Esquivel credited team sports, and especially under his former coach, Anthony Armas, with giving him a work ethic that carried straight into training.
"At certain moments I'd get these sudden flashes of football when I was training," he said. "It felt like practice at times, and people here would remind me of people back home. Sports gave me a work ethic I don't think I could have gotten anywhere else, and it made it easy to connect with people and work together."
His RDCs, Chief Petty Officer Andrea Barber, Petty Officer 1st Class Adedolapo Ajagbe and Petty Officer 2nd Class David Bernicky, guided the division through each phase of training. His third RDC, in particular, kept him grounded.
"He kept everything real," Esquivel said. "When we messed up, he wouldn't sugarcoat it or exaggerate it. He helped me stay grounded and understand what I needed to do to become better than I was before."
Following graduation, Esquivel 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: | 09.10.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 09.10.2026 10:54 |
| Story ID: | 574276 |
| Location: | GREAT LAKES, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 173 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Esquivel 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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