Photo By Chief Petty Officer Jessica Vargas | Navy Counselor 1st Class Deborah Fisher assigned to Navy Talent Acquisition Group...... read more read more
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Navy Counselor 1st Class Deborah Fisher, a native of Alamogordo, New Mexico, has excelled and achieved many accomplishments through her career, but this past year has been especially significant. First, she was named as the Navy Talent Acquisition Group (NTAG) Pacific Northwest 2022 Senior Sailor of the Year then she went on to earn the title of Navy Recruiting Command Region West 2022 Sailor of the Year.
“I’m truly humbled, but Sailor of the Year it is not about me,” Fisher said. “I just get to wear the crown but there are a lot of people that come into play for this whole thing. A lot of mentorship, a lot of guidance, and a lot of faith because my unique position is not possible without the faith that my chain of command has in me.”
Fisher serves as the Division Leading Chief Petty Officer for all Navy Recruiting Stations in Alaska.
“I am a first class petty officer running an entire state. That is not something that is not common in the recruiting world. This is normally a chief petty officer’s position. I feel very honored because my leadership trusted and provided the guidance to help me succeed so that I can in turn help my Sailors succeed. It’s all encompassing,” Fisher said.
While both of these honors are momentous achievements with tough competition, her list of achievements didn’t end there.
Fisher jumped into lifesaving action to provide emergency medical assistance to a passenger in distress during a flight from Washington to Alaska. Her quick response in this situation averted a dangerous medical situation and earned Fisher a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
Prior to discovering her love for recruiting, Fisher was excelling as a hospital corpsman early in her career where she credits the extensive medical training she received for helping her respond.
“I was a third class serving as a team lead for an entire emergency room floor at Balboa Naval Hospital,” Fisher said. “Other team leads were second or first classes assigned to Fleet Marine Force experience and had 7-10 years’ experience in the Navy. I was only in my second year in the Navy at that time. I had extreme attention to detail and I picked up the knowledge very quickly. I think that’s why I had so much success. I loved it so much.”
During this time Fisher got married and made the decision to leave active duty for the Navy Reserves, so she could focus on pursuing a nursing degree. After leaving active duty she was hired at a Trauma Center as a trauma technician when she quickly realized that she might have made a mistake by leaving the Navy.
“I learned that I am not a good civilian. I was so structured in the military and adapted for the military that being a civilian was very difficult for me,” Fisher said.
She also was surprised to learn that her military medical training was far too advanced for what she was expected to do as a civilian.
“The Navy trained me extremely well,” said Fisher. “My job experience and medical expertise was too far advanced for the civilian medical field. I was doing procedures in the Navy that civilian nurses aren’t authorized to do. Within two weeks of working at the Trauma Center they sat me down to explain the limitations on my scope of practice and it was like doing a quarter of what the Navy trained me to do.”
Fisher knew she had to get back to active duty.
While assigned to Navy Operation Support Center Ft. Carson, Fisher’s upbeat personality and a chance encounter with a Navy recruiter changed the direction of her life.
“I happened to meet NCC [Chief Navy Counselor] Elissa Cook at the time who thought my personality would be a good fit for recruiting. I was instantly excited and put in a package to start recruiting,” said Fisher.
She began her recruiting journey as a prior service recruiter and much like she has done consistently throughout her career, Fisher quickly excelled at recruiting.
“The chief recruiter of the schoolhouse emailed the chief recruiter of Recruiting District Denver and said that my talents as a recruiter would be wasted in prior service and that I should be utilized in the active duty mission” said Fisher.
“I love recruiting! It allows me the opportunity to possibly change someone's life, to be an influencer to a world they may never know existed. One of the most rewarding parts is calls, texts, or messages from new Sailors that have just graduated boot camp. Facebook updates of my future Sailors (now real Sailors) making rank or traveling, and getting awards. It is like living vicariously through their adventures. A piece of me knows that I was a part of their journey to get into the Navy,” Fisher said.
Fisher’s bubbly and positive attitude and tremendous success in her career did not come without her having to endure some very difficult life situations. Prior to joining the Navy, she suffered the loss of two loved ones. By sharing her story, she wants people to know that tough situations don’t last forever and growth happens in the healing process.
“The moment in time, the hard situation is not forever,” said Fisher. “You can choose to live in that moment and let it drown out the rest of your future or you can move past it and let it be a constant reminder to keep moving forward, keep looking for the positive, and finding growth in every situation. It’s easy to be sad when sad things happen. To move past those feelings is the process of healing and overcoming.”
Navy Talent Acquisition Group Pacific Northwest’s area of responsibility includes more than 34 Navy Recruiting Stations and Navy Officer Recruiting Stations throughout Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska.
| Date Taken: | 05.05.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 05.05.2023 14:21 |
| Story ID: | 444126 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 285 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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