Non-supervisory civilian of the Year award recipient Cassie Carson, an administrative assistant for Naval Base Kitsap is responsible for a long list of work: correspondence, routing, tracking, log-in, shadow check-ins, evaluations, and maintaining files, which she can list in one breath with enthusiasm, but that is not why she works so hard.

“I like assisting and interacting with the Sailors, it’s why I like my job,” said Carson, who has been working at NBK-Bremerton for more than two years. “Sailors can be entertaining, they can be frustrating… they can be a little bit of everything.”

Carson’s work with Sailors doesn’t end at the administration desk. She work’s personally with expecting mothers and limited duty Sailors who have temporary assigned duty (TAD) to NBK.

“I take incoming orders and make sure [Sailors] get assigned to proper departments. I ensure they are making it to their appointments and they are following the limited duty guidelines,” Carson said. “I’m dealing with peoples’ careers. I want to make their job easy.”

To Carson, winning the award means she’s good at her job, it means the Sailors she works with like her and it means her superiors think the same.

“Cassie puts 110 percent into everything she does. She cares for the people of NBK, the Sailors on limited duty, and for the people she works with,” said Will Bedore, the NBK assistant administrative officer and Cassie’s immediate supervisor. “She probably has the most duties here, when she’s completed with those she asks to help other people. Cassie is probably the best employee I’ve had.”

The CoY award begins with Civilian of the Quarter (CoQ), each base from Navy Region Northwest selects their top civilian from the four quarterly winners. Bases involved include: Naval Station Everett, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Naval Magazine Indian Island, and NBK, which includes Bremerton, Bangor, Keyport and Manchester. At the end of the year all winners have packages submitted by their chain of command to a board of judges who select the best candidate and the new CoY.

To the often modest Carson, it is the people around her that make her job easy.

“I have a great department,” said Carson, “it’s a good feeling when I have Sailors who tell me I am part of the reason they want to be here and I’m just doing my job.”