Marine Sgt. Stephen Smith

Sgt. Stephen Smith, who wrapped up his last combat tour in 2011, continues to fight on behalf of his fellow Marines. Now, his weapon of choice is paint and canvas.

Smith is everything a Marine infantryman should be. Though injured by an improvised explosive device attack in March 2010, he returned to his unit and was soon made fire team leader despite having only one year in service. He attended Infantry Squad Leader’s Course as a lance corporal and was received a meritorious combat promotion to corporal during his second deployment to Marjah, Afghanistan. He later completed a tour as a recruiting in which he was named Recruiter of the Year for Recruiting Station Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Then the symptoms of his traumatic brain injury surfaced. Smith soon found that the careful discipline of art brought needed focus, and helped him confront emotions held in check. Now attached to Camp Lejeune’s Wounded Warrior Battalion in North Carolina, he uses art as a therapeutic tool to help injured Marines cope and heal, and help families find closure. In April, he helped create the “TBI Art Club,” a venue where any service member can use art as an outlet for emotional distress. He also collaborates with various non-profit organizations such as Hope for the Warrior, American Red Cross, and the Purple Heart Art Project.

Smith regularly collaborates with nonprofit organizations such as Hope for the Warrior, the American Red Cross and the Purple Heart Art Project. That work has helped him better understand the needs of wounded warriors and their families.

“Sgt. Smith has developed from a patient to mentor despite serious setbacks due to his medical condition,” said Capt. William Liu, Smith’s immediate supervisor. “[He] is a selfless leader who, despite his condition, will stop at nothing to help his fellow Marines and their families.”

Electrician's Mate 2nd Class Matthew Tuten

Electrician's Mate 2nd Class Matthew Tuten already has a demanding, full-time job as one of a handful of electricians supporting 48 Coast Guard vessels from Mississippi to Florida. But in his off-time, if you can call it that, he's a volunteer firefighter in Loxley, Ala., as well as an emergency medical technician for a private ambulance service.

"I’ve never seen anybody do as much as he’s done in the past year in my entire military career, with his dedication to the community, to the service," Senior Chief Machinery Technician Douglas Melvin told Navy Times.

As one of only two electricians at Coast Guard Sector Mobile, Alabama, qualified to work on the Coastal Patrol Boat, Tuten is subject to recall around the clock if one of them breaks down.

About half a dozen times during his last two years at Sector Mobile, he's had to drop what he was doing to come in -- and often, that means leaving his volunteer firefighter or EMS jobs, where he regularly spends upwards of 20 hours a week.

"For his ability to be able to turn it on and off at a moment’s notice, for him to be able to switch between the fire department, the EMT and the Coast Guard… for him to be able to use his experience on a collateral duty basis within the Coast Guard and in the community is a big thing for me," Chief Warrant Officer 3 Mark Childers, Tuten's engineering officer, told Navy Times.

Tech. Sgt Christopher Rector

Technical Sgt. Christopher Rector remembers accompanying his Air Force father to work when he was a boy.

“I always had this fascination with airplanes,” Rector recalled. “He worked on the flightline, so he would occasionally take me out with him. ... I would sit there and watch the airplanes take off.”

It was that love of flying that brought Rector into the Air Force.

Currently a special missions aviator with the 459^th Airlift Squadron, based out of Yokota, Japan, Rector serves as a flight engineer on UH-1N Huey helicopters.

While flying a helicopter in Afghanistan, en route to pick up a squad of commandos, they got a call that the squadron needed immediate evacuation.

They flew to the troops taking the shortest route, even though they knew insurgents were in the area.

“After about a minute of flying level, I started hearing that [sound] of a round hitting very close. Then I hear the metal start to crack as it’s hitting the aircraft,” Rector said.

Reaching the commandos’ position, it was up to Rector and the helicopter’s pilot to steer the craft while the troops got inside.

“We had to focus on keeping the aircraft straight and level while they worked,” Rector says of the aircrew in the rear end of the craft.

When one of the crewmembers was hit in the neck. Rector provided immediate life-saving first aid, then focused on getting the helo out of the combat zone.

“That was me having to put the absolute trust in my guys in the back of the aircraft that they were going to do what it took to ensure that we got him home,” Rector said. “That right there is the epitome of the brothership that you develop with crew. You trust your guys not only with your life but with each other’s lives.”

Rector’s commanding officers credit his quick-thinking, skill and leadership under fire for not only getting the helicopter, crew and passengers safely back to base, but also saving the life of the airman who was hit in the neck. Due to his actions that day, Rector was featured in the Air Forces Profiles in Courage in 2015, and was later invited by the White House and Congress to tell his story to 1,000 government leaders.

His cool leadership was again put to the test in 2015 when his helicopter experienced catastrophic engine problems over water. He guided the helo to a beach landing on a remote Japanese island. As the crew worked on the engine, he kept track of the incoming tide and developed contingency plans for takeoff. The engine problem was resolved just as the water was hitting the helo’s skids. He directed the careful takeoff, saving the lives of five crewmembers and a $10 million aircraft.

At Yokota, Rector has been key to developing closer bonds between U.S. and Japanese airmen, including setting up joint exercises for the helicopter crews. He’s done the same off-duty too, organizing events for troops from both nations to celebrate Japanese and American holidays. He also mentors Japanese and American school children on base, and spends hours each week after work helping kids learn how to read.

Marine Staff Sgt. Matthew Nowak

On May 22, 2015, Staff Sgt. Matthew Nowak saw a fellow recruiter reach into a bag and realized that the man was going to pull out a pistol to shoot himself.

Nowak, a helicopter airframe mechanic currently assigned to Recruiting Substation Wyandotte, Michigan, jumped up and ran over to his fellow Marine. He grabbed his comrade’s hand and told him to let go of the pistol. The man held onto it for a bit before finally dropping it.

Nowak, the father of four, said he was so focused on stopping the Marine from killing himself that he did not think about getting shot in the process. The Marine whom Nowak saved is still in the Corps and is slated to join an operational unit. He constantly thanks Nowak for intervening.

In addition to his day job, Nowak serves as a mentor for local school children, said his wife Tracy. “He takes time out of his day to keep them out of trouble and will spend quality time with them so they can finish school and become amazing Marines,” she said.

Nowak also spends a few hours each week volunteering at a Veterans Affairs homeless shelter and helping with the Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots program each winter. Around Christmastime, Nowak also “adopted” five families in need and donated toys to them.

“I’m from this area, and there’s people that need help all the time,” he said.

Notable quote: “I was a sergeant at the time [my colleague attempted suicide]. I told him: ‘I don’t care if you’re a staff sergeant. If you don’t let go of it, I’m going to beat your ass.’ I’m sorry for the vulgar language. At the time, that’s what came out.”

Lt. Cmdr. Megan Drewniak

Lt. Cmdr. Megan Drewniak is someone who helps fellow Coast Guardsmen anytime, on-duty or off.

Drewniak was known as an overachiever and a motivator at Coast Guard Sector Miami in 2015. She created the sector?s mentorship program and specifically its women's leadership program, bringing in speakers to inspire her female shipmates, and volunteered off-duty as a fitness instructor to help fellow Coast Guardsmen get in shape.

Her reputation served her well last year, when a fellow Coast Guardsman at Sector Miami dealing with alcoholism and suicidal thoughts reached out.

"She relentlessly followed up with the member to ensure they had sources of support, were involved in positive activities, underscored reasons to live (such as commitment to family, friends, Coast Guard), and safe people to call and places to go," according to her nomination. "Her intervention and assistance, along with the assistance of others, helped save the member?s life, brought them from rock bottom and on the road to recovery."

Her mentorship program pairs junior Coast Guardsmen with mentors of their choice and also features events from leadership workshops and lunches to speed mentoring.

Drewniak's mentorship duties went beyond the scope of her billet in Miami, where she served from 2014 to April 2016 as an investigations officer, getting to the bottom of marine and commercial vessel casualties, negligent mariner cases and other issues at sea.

"She was just one of those people that people felt very comfortable with," Cmdr. Bradley Clare, her former department head, told Navy Times.

Comfortable enough for Clare, the deputy sector commander and a couple dozen other coworkers to take her Crossfit classes at the base gym where Drewniak volunteered as an instructor up to five days a week.