MSgt Julius Spain, Sr

Team manager and coaching assistant for a Fairfax, Va., boys basketball team. Life-member of the NAACP. Married for nearly 20 years with two daughters and one son.

Master Sgt. Julius Spain Sr. is getting the enlisted Marines’ message out to those in Washington, and he takes a lot of pride in doing so. Officers have historically been the ones to represent service members on Capitol Hill, so serving as an enlisted legislative fellow provides a unique and important perspective, especially following a decade of combat. And it’s a duty Spain, a South Carolina native, called one of the highlights of his 22 years in the Marine Corps.

During a 12-month tour in the Senate serving as the defense legislative fellow for Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., Spain was consulted often.

“I know firsthand what some of our junior Marines and their families are going through, because I’ve been there and done that,” Spain said. “With me being on the Hill, it lets their voices be heard.”

Lt. Col. Marcus Hewett and Capt. Neville Welch nominated Spain to be Marine Corps Times’ Marine of the Year not only because of his professional accomplishments, but because of his off-duty devotion to volunteering, especially with local youth.

“He is widely known for organizing several community service activities,” Welch wrote in his nomination, adding that Spain is sought out as a mentor.

All Marines should be well-balanced, in the military and out in the community, Spain said.

“I have an appreciation for giving back to the community; it’s just how I was brought up,” he said. “I try to teach [the kids] to better themselves when it comes to education to do more than just the bare minimum.”

Spain is up for promotion to master gunnery sergeant this summer and has been selected to assume the position of senior enlisted adviser for the Marine Corps Office of Legislative Affairs.

1stSgt David Compton

Married for about five years with three children.

First Sgt. David Compton doesn’t think he does anything extraordinary on the job, but those who know him disagree.

The senior enlisted adviser for Marine Corps Detachment Newport, R.I., is the unit’s family readiness officer, a position he established upon joining the unit. The job seems like a natural fit, considering the continued contact Compton keeps with Marines and sailors from a previous unit who deployed alongside him to Afghanistan in 2010. “After a long deployment, he stayed in contact with members of the team that had a more difficult time in combat,” his boss of three years, Maj. Marcus Reynolds, wrote in his recommending Compton for Marine Corps Times’ Marine of the Year. The takeaway: He truly cares about others’ well-being.

During that deployment, Compton worked with Afghan security forces and imparted lessons learned over his 18-year career.

“They had very little experience; they were a new unit,” he said. “They responded very well. They really liked the fact that I was taking the time to learn a little bit about their culture and tried to benefit them and help them out.”

Compton has gathered a group of Marines from his command to assist with Homes for Our Troops, which built a new house for a local wounded Marine and his family. He also plans cookouts and other events for his Marines to keep their morale high.

In his off time, Compton earned a bachelor’s degree in history, and he and his wife, Cinthia, raise three children. She cited among his best qualities the ability to maintain a great family life even throughout his deployments. Compton said balancing military service and family is a top priority.

“If you’re happy at home, you’re going to be happy at work, and vice versa,” Compton said. “You’ve got to keep a healthy balance to that and not ignore one or the other. You have to have a productive environment on both sides.”

Ensign Stacy Smith

Single. Played soccer all four years of college at Appalachian State University.

Ensign Stacy Smith loved living in Ketchikan, Alaska, and experiencing a place so different from her hometown of Atlanta. While serving there as a fireman at a search-and-rescue station, the then-enlisted Coast Guardsman said she became part of the community through volunteering, both at a local soup kitchen and with a high school girls soccer team.

When Smith left Ketchikan in January to attend Officer Candidate School, her mark on the community and the unit remained. Others at the station continue to volunteer in the community, according to the station’s executive officer, Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Josh Bartlett.

“She certainly inspired others to [volunteer]. It’s still ongoing,” Bartlett said. “The people she introduced to it are still doing it and introducing it to others.” For her commitment to the community and above-and-beyond performance on the job, Smith is the 2012 Navy Times Coast Guardsman of the Year. Today, she is stationed in Miami on the fast response cutter Bernard C. Webber, which is patrolling Caribbean waters for drugs and illegal migrants.

Smith, who reported to Webber in May after finishing OCS, hasn’t had a chance to get involved in her new Florida community. However, once she falls into a normal schedule, she said she plans to find ways to volunteer — and get the crew involved, too. She has already begun to mentor other crew members on her new ship, said Lt. Cmdr. Herb Eggert, Webber’s commanding officer.

“I know she’s taken one of our nonrates under her wing to talk to her about how to apply for OCS and what the process is like,” Eggert said. “So while she hasn’t had the opportunity so much to help in the community, she definitely still has that altruistic personality where she’s helping the crew.”

Smith, who has been in the Coast Guard for three years, knew she wanted to be an officer when she joined. But serving as an enlisted Coast Guardsman first, she said, has given her a viewpoint that most officers don’t get. “When you’re a nonrate, you’re just told, ‘This is what you need to do,’ and you’re like, ‘All right,’ and you go do it,” she said, referring to those junior enlisted Coast Guardsmen who do not yet have an assigned job. “Now, it’s more that I’m developing what needs to get done and making sure it’s getting done.”

Though she has only been stationed on Webber for about a month, Eggert said he’s been “very impressed.”

“She’s been very serious about getting her initial qualifications done and she’s started to take on some leadership roles,” like working toward becoming the first lieutenant in charge of the deck department, he said.

Smith has also taken over the role of training officer. Her first project in this role is prepping for the ship’s “ready for operations inspection” at the end of July to ensure everything on the ship is in working order. The Webber is the first-in-class FRC, a class that will replace the outdated 110-foot Island-class patrol boats. Because Smith and the crew are on a new ship, learning presents its own challenges. “There’s just no basis yet because it hasn’t been done, so we’re, as a crew, working through that and getting ready,” she said. “It’s exciting to be a part of.” Though Smith’s Miami crew hasn’t known her for long, Eggert said he can already see why she’s the 2012 winner.

“It’s not a surprise to me ... the way she’s come on board,” he said. “It’s been an impressive first month or so.”

Smith said she still has plans to find another soccer team to coach. In Ketchikan, coaching was one of her most memorable activities.

“You could tell that they appreciated me being there and they’d come and ask me questions about college and playing soccer, about being a student-athlete or being in the military,” Smith said. “Hopefully I was able to motivate and influence them a little bit. But I think that was definitely the most rewarding for me, getting to spend time with them and learn from them.”

BM1 James Koon

Married, father of a boy and girl.

Assigned to Port Security Unit 313 in Everett, Wash., Koon was instrumental in developing a new training program for the operations afloat division, as well as coordinating the arrival of six new transportable port security boat platforms. He regularly takes on extra missions at work, serving as the unit’s command drug and alcohol representative and the unit health coordinator, where he motivates staff to participate in a weekly group workout.

“As a supervisor, the best thing a member can be is incontrovertible, honest, trustworthy and forward-thinking,” said Lt. Monica Hernandez, his supervisor. “BM1 Koon demonstrates all these qualities and more.” Koon volunteers with the Camp Fire USA organization as an assistant den leader. He also assisted in leading a community garden project to teach children social skills and customer service.

Koon also participated in the Festival of Trees event at Seattle Children’s Hospital, where his daughter is a patient for a lifelong heart condition. The event, where people can bid on decorated Christmas trees, allows children to receive care regardless of a family’s ability to pay.